THE  SURVIVAL  OF  MAN 

A   Study   in   Unrecognized 
Human   Faculty 


RAYMOND:  or  Life  and  Death 

THE  SURVIVAL  OF  MAN 

MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE 

REASON  AND  BELIEF 

CHRISTOPHER 

THE  WAR  AND  AFTER 

MODERN  PROBLEMS 

NEW  YORK:  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  MAN 

A  Study  in  Unrecognized 
Human  Faculty 


BY 
SIR  OLIVER  LODGE,  F.R.S. 


NEW  AND 
ENLARGED    EDITION 


NEW  ^1Sr  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPTBIQHT,  1909, 

BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPTBIQHT,  1920, 
BT  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


PRINTED  IH  THE  UNITED    STATES  OF  AMERICA 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  FOUNDERS  OF  THE 
SOCIETY  FOR  PSYCHICAL  RESEARCH: 
THE  TRUEST  AND  MOST  PATIENT  WORK- 
ERS IN  AN  UNPOPULAR  REGION  OF 
SCIENCE  THAT  I  HAVE  EVER  KNOWN 


PREFACE  TO  THIS  NEW  AND  ENLARGED 
EDITION 

THE  war  has  opened  the  hearts  of  thousands  of 
people  to  evidence  which  formerly  appealed  only 
,to  their  heads.  This  fact  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count in  estimating  the  value  of  evidence  for  survival.  On 
the  one  hand  it  may  make  people  unduly  credulous  and 
ready  to  accept  any  medium  of  evidence  that  trends  in  the 
direction  of  their  desires  and  longings;  on  the  other  hand 
it  may  make  people  extra-critical  and  cautious  lest  in  a 
matter  of  such  importance  they  shall  be  deceived. 

The  latter  is  the  more  wholesome  attitude,  and  on  the 
whole  I  believe  is  the  commoner  of  the  two.  For  although 
evidence  may  appear  conclusive  when  first  received,  subse- 
quent contemplation  and  the  suggestion  of  other. methods 
of  explanation  often  throw  doubt  upon  the  interpretation 
that  first  suggested  itself,  and  it  is  perceived  that  a  deceptive 
appearance  of  proof  may  be  attained  without  any  intention 
to  deceive,  without  any  fraud  on  the  part  of  anybody,  but 
solely  because  alternative  modes  of  interpretation  seem 
possible;  and  it  is  realised  that  much  study  and  experience 
are  necessary  before  discrimination  is  certain,  and  before 
anything  like  a  secure  basis  of  definite  knowledge  can  be 
reached. 

Since  the  war  the  bereavement  has  been  so  heavy  that 
emotion  is  inevitably  touched,  and  it  may  be  erroneously 
thought  that  my  conviction  of  the  survival  of  Raymond,  and 
with  him  of  the  thousands  of  other  young  fellows  untimely 


vi  PREFACE 

slain,  may  have  been  induced  by  the  natural  longing  of  a 
parent. 

The  present  book,  however,  was  written  long  before  the 
war,  and  is  the  result  of  cold-blooded  scientific  scrutiny  of 
facts  such  as  have  come  into  my  ken  from  time  to  time  ever 
since  the  year  1882.  Even  before  that  I  had  had  many 
talks  with  my  friends  Myers  and  Gurney,  and  was  aware 
of  the  records  collected  by  them  in  preparation  for  a  book 
called  "Phantasms  of  the  Living,"  and  their  explanation 
of  many  apparitions,  or  so-called  ghosts,  by  a  sort  of  tele- 
pathic action  of  mind  on  mind  apart  from  the  ordinary 
organs  of  sense.  In  the  seventies  of  last  century,  however, 
I  was  as  sceptical  of  all  those  things  as  any  other  young 
student  of  orthodox  physical  science,  and  only  gradually 
did  the  facts  associated  with  psychical  research  make  any 
impression  on  my  mind. 

For  a  long  time  these  facts  accumulated,  and  I  bided  my 
time,  weighing  all  sorts  of  alternative  explanations  and  not 
being  finally  and  publicly  convinced  of  the  survival  and 
activity  and  communicating  power  of  the  dead  until,  say,  the 
years  1906  and  1909;  although  as  a  matter  of  fact  I  had 
had  evidence  which  really  might  have  been  convincing  in 
the  year  1889.  For  it  was  in  that  year  that  I  had  my  first 
sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper,  and  through  her  mediumship  spe- 
cial relatives  of  my  own  came  through  and  established  their 
identity  in  a  most  striking  manner  But  the  recently 
evolved  idea  of  thought  transference  or  mind-reading  from 
the  living  kept  obtruding  itself  as  an  alternative  though 
far-fetched  possibility,  and  it  was  not  till  after  Myers's 
death  in  1901  that  this  hypothesis  was  relegated  to  its 
proper  subordinate  position  by  the  ingenious  devices  con- 
trived by  him  for  the  purpose.  He  well  knew  the  difficulty 
that  the  fact  of  telepathy  from  the  living  raised,  in  con- 


PREFACE 


vn 


nexion  with  the  crucial  proof  of  survival  of  the  dead,  and 
he  took  pains  to  arrange  experiments — cross-correspond- 
ence and  others — which  should  put  that  hypothesis,  at  least 
in  some  cases,  definitely  out  of  court. 

Thus  gradually  the  theory  of  real  communication  from 
minds  discarnate  forced  itself  upon  me  as  the  only  one 
which  would  consistently  explain  all  the  facts;  and  then  in 
due  time  I  came  out  in  the  open  and  professed  the  belief, 
or  rather  the  knowledge,  to  which  I  had  been  gradually  led. 

This  volume  is  a  record  of  some  of  the  salient  facts  on 
which  my  conviction  has  been  based.  It  does  not  pretend 
to  be  complete  or  exhaustive,  but  it  gives  a  sample  of  the 
facts  that  have  come  under  my  own  observation;  beginning 
with  simple  experiments  in  thought  transference  and  leading 
up  to  the  beginning  of  the  period  subsequent  to  the  death  of 
Myers. 

The  great  and  classical  work  of  Myers  called  "Human 
Personality"  had  not  been  quite  completed  when  he  died, 
and  it  was  published  after  his  death.  In  it  is  developed 
his  theory  of  the  Subliminal-self,  which  throws  so  much 
light  on  questions  of  incarnation,  pre-existence,  and  even 
on  the  idea  of  a  modified  form  of  what  is  sometimes  called 
reincarnation.  A  chapter  on  this  subject  is  therefore  ap- 
pended to  this  edition  as  a  penultimate  chapter. 

Further,  although  the  question  of  abnormal  or  super- 
normal physical  phenomena  is  not  raised  in  the  present 
volume,  a  final  chapter  is  added  introductory  to  them,  al- 
though they  may  or  may  not  add  to  the  evidence  for  sur- 
vival. For  it  is  possible  to  hold  that  such  phenomena  have 
nothing  to  do  with  any  action  of  the  discarnate,  and  that 
they  are  purely  physiological  activities  of  the  medium — an 
extension,  a  surprising  and  rather  incredible  extension,  of 
the  familiar  experiences  illustrative  of  the  action  of  mind 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


on  matter,  to  which  we  have  grown  so  accustomed  that  we 
fail  to  recognize  in  such  action  anything  surprising  or  inex- 
plicable. Yet  inexplicable  they  really  are.  No  one  can  ex- 
plain how  a  finger  is  moved  by  an  act  of  will,  nor  how  our 
bodies  are  unconsciously  constructed  in  a  certain  character- 
istic shape;  and  if  we  find  by  actual  experiment  and  observa- 
tion that  occasionally  things  can  be  moved  beyond  the 
ordinary  periphery  of  the  body,  or  that  some  plastic  con- 
structive ability  is  possessed  by  our  unconscious  minds, 
there  is  no  a  priori  argument  of  any  weight  that  we 
can  adduce  in  opposition  to  the  actual  fact.  What  we  have 
to  do  in  such  a  region  is  to  contemplate  and  make  very  sure 
of  our  facts,  leaving  deduction  and  explanation  to  follow  in 
due  time.  So  my  concluding  chapter  will  be  a  warning 
against  quenching  the  spirit  of  enquiry  by  premature  certi- 
tude that  all  such  things  are  impossible. 

I  plead  for  an  open  mind  to  them  also,  for  it  is  our  duty 
in  this  scientific  age  to  make  room  for  every  fact  in  nature, 
whether  it  appears  to  fit  into  our  prearranged  scheme  of 
the  Universe  or  not. 

Our  minds  are  not  likely  as  yet  to  have  exhausted  the 
possibilities  of  the  Universe.  Whole  chapters,  new  volumes, 
of  fact  may  be  awaiting  our  explorations,  and  a  book  like 
this  should  appropriately  close  not  on  a  note  of  completion 
but  on  a  glimpse  of  still  further  vistas  opening  before  us,  a 
recognition  of  unplumbed  depths  awaiting  the  sounding-line 
of  the  navigators  of  the  future. 

NEW  YORK, 
February,  IQ20 


"  IT  is  mere  dogmatism  to  assert  that  we  do  not  survive  death,  and  mere 
prejudice  or  inertia  to  assert  that  it  is  impossible  to  discover  whether  we 
do  or  no.  We  in  the  West  have  hardly  even  begun  to  inquire  into  the 
matter ;  and  scientific  method  and  critical  faculty  were  never  devoted  to 
it,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  previous  to  the  foundation,  some  quarter  of  a 
century  ago,  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research.  .  .  . 

"  Alleged  facts  suggesting  prima  facie  the  survival  of  death  .  .  . 
are  now  at  last  being  systematically  and  deliberately  explored  by  men 
and  women  of  intelligence  and  good  faith  bent  on  ascertaining  the  truth." 

"  I  am  asking  you  to  take  seriously  a  branch  of  scientific  inquiry  which 
may  have  results  more  important  than  any  other  that  is  being  pursued  in 
our  time."  G.  LOWES  DICKINSON, 

Ingersoll  Lecture  on  Immortality  at  Harvard  1908. 

And  assuredly  the  religious,  implications  of  all  these  phenomena  are 
worthy  of  any  man's  most  serious  thought.  Those  who  most  feel  the 
importance  of  the  ethical  superstructure  are  at  the  same  time  most  plainly 
bound  to  treat  the  establishment  of  the  facts  at  the  foundation  as  no  mere 
personal  search  for  a  faith,  to  be  dropped  when  private  conviction  has 
been  attained,  but  as  a  serious,  a  continuous,  public  duty.  And  the  more 
convinced  they  are  that  their  faith  is  sound,  the  more  ready  should  they 
be  to  face  distrust  and  aversion, —  to  lay  their  account  for  a  long  strug- 
gle with  the  vis  inertia  of  the  human  spirit. 

F.  W.  H.  MYERS,  Human  Personality,  ii.  225. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

SECTION  I 
AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  OF  PSYCHICAL  RESEARCH 

CHAP  PAGE. 

I.    THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FOR  PSYCHICAL  RE- 
SEARCH      i 

II.    PRACTICAL  WORK  OF  THE  SOCIETY n 

SECTION  II 

EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  OR  THOUGHT 
TRANSFERENCE 

III.  SOME  EARLY  EXPERIMENTS  IN  THOUGHT-TRANS- 

FERENCE   39 

IV.  FURTHER  EXPERIMENTS  IN  TELEPATHY    ...     59 
V.     SPONTANEOUS  CASES  OF  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE     74 

VI.    APPLIED  TELEPATHY 80 

SECTION  III 

SPONTANEOUS    TELEPATHY    AND    CLAIRVOYANCE 

VII.     APPARITIONS  CONSIDERED  IN   THE   LIGHT  OF  TE- 
LEPATHY   99 

VIII.    TELEPATHY  FROM  AN  IMMATERIAL  REGION    .      .no 

IX.     EXAMPLES  OF  APPARENT  CLAIRVOYANCE    .     .     .128 

X.     PREVISION ' 155 


CONTENTS 


SECTION  IV 

AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

XI.  AUTOMATIC  WRITING  AND  TRANCE  SPEECH   .     .169 

XII.     PERSONAL   IDENTITY 182 

XIII.  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  .     .     .   190 

XIV.  PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  JAMES'S  EARLY  TESTIMONY  198 
XV.  THE  AUTHOR'S  FIRST  REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER   .  204 

XVI.     EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS 214 

XVII.    DISCUSSION  OF  PIPER  SITTINGS 240 

XVIII.  SUMMARY  OF  DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEWS   ....  246 

XIX.  RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS.    GENERAL  INFORMATION  259 

XX.    THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL 269 

XXI.  GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  PIPER  SITTINGS  .     .281 

XXII.    THE   MYERS   CONTROL 288 

XXIII.  THE  MYERS  AND  HODGSON  CONTROLS  IN  RECENT 

PIPER  SITTINGS 313 

XXIV.  BRIEF  SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIENCES  AND  COM- 

MENT  THEREUPON 321 

XXV.    INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   STUDY  OF   CROSS-CORRE- 
SPONDENCE     329 

XXVI.    TENTATIVE  CONCLUSION 339 

XXVII.     IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 344 

XXVIII.    ON  THE    SUBLIMINAL   SELF  AND  ON  THE   BOOK 

"HUMAN  PERSONALITY" 358 

XXIX.    ON  THE  A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  PHYSICAL 

PHENOMENA 368 

INDEX 377 


SECTION  I 

AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  OF  PSY- 
CHICAL RESEARCH 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF   MAN 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FOR  PSYCHICAL 

RESEARCH 

PUZZLING  and  weird  occurrences  have  been  vouched 
for  among  all  nations  and  in  every  age.  It  is 
possible  to  relegate  a  good  many  asserted  occurrences 
to  the  domain  of  superstition,  but  it  is  not  possible  thus 
to  eliminate  all.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  in  the  present  stage 
of  natural  knowledge  we  are  acquainted  with  all  the 
workings  of  the  human  spirit  and  have  reduced  them  to  such 
simplicity  that  everything  capable  of  happening  in  the  mental 
and  psychical  region  is  of  a  nature  readily  and  familiarly  to 
be  understood  by  all.  Yet  there  are  many  who  seem  prac- 
tically to  believe  in  this  improbability;  for  although  they 
are  constrained  from  time  to  time  to  accept  novel  and  sur- 
prising discoveries  in  biology,  in  chemistry,  and  in  physical 
science  generally,  they  seem  tacitly  to  assume  that  these  are 
the  only  parts  of  the  universe  in  which  fundamental  dis- 
covery is  possible,  all  the  rest  being  too  well  known. 

It  is  a  simple  faith,  and  does  credit  to  the  capacity  for 
belief  of  those  who  hold  it  —  belief  unfounded  upon  knowl- 
edge, and  tenable  only  in  the  teeth  of  a  great  mass  of  evi- 
dence to  the  contrary. 

It  is  not  easy  to  unsettle  minds  thus  fortified  against  the 
intrusion  of  unwelcome  facts;  and  their  strong  faith  is 

I 


2  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

probably  a  salutary  safeguard  against  that  unbalanced  and 
comparatively  dangerous  condition  called  "  open-minded- 
ness,"  which  is  ready  to  learn  and  investigate  anything  not 
manifestly  self-contradictory  and  absurd.  Without  people 
of  the  solid,  assured,  self-satisfied  order,  the  practical  work 
of  the  world  would  not  so  efficiently  be  done. 

But,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  subject  by  the 
majority  of  people  at  present,  this  book  is  intended  to  indi- 
cate the  possibility  that  discoveries  of  the  very  first  magni- 
tude can  still  be  made  —  are  indeed  in  process  of  being  made 
—  by  strictly  scientific  methods,  in  the  region  of  psychology : 
discoveries  quite  comparable  in  importance  with  those  which 
have  been  made  during  the  last  century  in  physics  and  biol- 
ogy, but  discoveries  whose  opportunities  for  practical  ap- 
plication and  usefulness  may  similarly  have  to  remain  for 
some  time  in  the  hands  of  experts,  since  perhaps  they  can- 
not be  miscellaneously  absorbed  or  even  apprehended  by 
the  multitude  without  danger. 

It  has  been  partly  the  necessity  for  caution  —  the  dread 
of  encouraging  mere  stupid  superstition  —  that  has  in- 
stinctively delayed  advance  in  these  branches  of  inquiry, 
until  the  progress  of  education  gave  a  reasonable  chance  of 
a  sane  and  balanced  and  critical  reception  by  a  fairly  con- 
siderable minority. 

But,  within  the  last  half  century,  assertions  concerning 
psychological  supernormalities  have  not  only  excited  gen- 
eral attention,  but  have  rather  notably  roused  the  interest 
of  careful  and  responsible  students,  both  in  the  domain  of 
science  and  in  that  of  letters. 

Twenty-eight  years  ago,  in  fact,  a  special  society  with 
distinguished  membership  was  enrolled  in  London,  with  the 
object  of  inquiring  into  the  truth  of  many  of  these  asser- 
tions. It  was  started  by  a  few  men  of  letters  and  of  science 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  3 

who  for  some  years  had  been  acquainted  with  a  number  of 
strange  apparent  facts  —  facts  so  strange  and  unusual,  and 
yet  so  widely  believed  in  among  a  special  coterie  of  ordi- 
narily sane  and  sensible  people,  that  it  seemed  to  these 
pioneers  highly  desirable  either  to  incorporate  them  properly 
into  the  province  of  ordered  knowledge,  or  else  to  extrude 
them  definitely  as  based  upon  nothing  but  credulity,  im- 
posture, and  deceit. 

The  attempt  was  to  be  made  in  a  serious  and  responsible 
spirit,  a  spirit  of  genuine  "scepticism," — that  is  to  say,  of 
critical  examination  and  inquiry,  not  of  dogmatic  denial  and 
assertion.  No  phenomenon  was  to  be  unhesitatingly  re- 
jected because  at  first  sight  incredible.  No  phenomenon 
was  to  be  accepted  which  could  not  make  its  position  good 
by  crucial  and  repeated  and  convincing  tests.  Every  class 
of  asserted  fact  was  to  have  the  benefit  of  inquiry,  none 
was  to  be  given  the  benefit  of  any  doubt.  So  long  as  doubt 
was  possible,  the  phenomenon  was  to  be  kept  at  arm's 
length:  to  be  criticised  as  possible,  not  to  be  embraced  as 
true. 

It  is  often  cursorily  imagined  that  an  adequate  supply  of 
the  critical  and  cautious  spirit  necessary  in  this  investiga- 
tion is  a  monopoly  of  professed  men  of  science.  It  is  not 
so.  Trained  students  of  literature  —  not  to  mention  ex- 
perts in  philosophy  —  have  shown  themselves  as  careful,  as 
exact,  as  critical,  and  as  cautious,  as  any  professed  student 
of  science.  They  have  even  displayed  an  excess  of  caution. 
They  have  acted  as  a  curb  and  a  restraint  upon  the  more 
technically  scientific  workers,  who  —  presumably  because 
their  constant  business  is  to  deal  at  first  hand  with  new 
phenomena  of  one  kind  or  another  —  have  been  willing  to 
accept  a  fresh  variety  of  them  upon  evidence  not  much 
stronger  than  that  to  which  they  were  already  well  accus- 


4  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

tomed.  Whereas  some  of  the  men  and  women  of  letters 
associated  with  the  society  have  been  invariably  extremely 
cautious,  less  ready  to  be  led  by  obtrusive  and  plausible  ap- 
pearances, more  suspicious  of  possibilities  and  even  impos- 
sibilities of  fraud,  actually  more  inventive  sometimes  of 
other  and  quasi-normal  methods  of  explaining  inexplicable 
facts.  I  name  no  names,  but  from  a  student  of  science  this 
testimony  is  due:  and  it  is  largely  to  the  sceptical  and  ex- 
tremely cautious  wisdom  of  some  representatives  of  letters 
and  philosophy,  as  well  as  to  their  energy  and  enthusiasm 
for  knowledge,  that  the  present  moderately  respectable 
position  of  the  subject  in  the  estimation  of  educated  people 
is  due. 

The  first  President  was  Professor  Henry  Sidgwick,  and 
in  his  early  presidential  addresses  the  following  sentences 
occur : — 

It  is  a  scandal  that  a  dispute  as  to  the  reality  of  these 
phenomena  should  still  be  going  on,  that  so  many  competent 
witnesses  should  have  declared  their  belief  in  them,  that  so 
many  others  should  be  profoundly  interested  in  having  the 
question  determined,  and  yet  that  the  educated  world,  as  a 
body,  should  still  be  simply  in  the  attitude  of  incredulity. 

Now  the  primary  aim  of  our  Society,  the  thing  which  we 
all  unite  to  promote,  whether  as  believers  or  non-believers, 
is  to  make  a  sustained  and  systematic  attempt  to  remove  this 
scandal  in  one  way  or  another. 

If  any  one  asks  me  what  I  mean  by,  or  how  I  define, 
sufficient  scientific  proof  of  thought-reading,  clairvoyance,  or 
the  phenomena  called  Spiritualistic,  I  should  ask  to  be  al- 
lowed to  evade  the  difficulties  of  determining  in  the  abstract 
what  constitutes  adequate  evidence.  What  I  mean  by 
sufficient  evidence  is  evidence  that  will  convince  the  scientific 
world,  and  for  that  we  obviously  require  a  good  deal  more 
than  we  have  so  far  obtained.  I  do  not  mean  that  some 
effect  in  this  direction  has  not  been  produced:  if  that  were 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  5 

so  we  could  not  hope  to  do  much.  I  think  that  something 
has  been  done;  that  the  advocates  of  obstinate  incredulity 
—  I  mean  the  incredulity  that  waives  the  whole  affair  aside 
as  undeserving  of  any  attention  from  rational  beings  — 
feel  their  case  to  be  not  primd  facie  so  strong  now  as  it  was. 

Thirty  years  ago  it  was  thought  that  want  of  scientific 
culture  was  an  adequate  explanation  of  the  vulgar  belief  in 
mesmerism  and  table-turning.  Then,  as  one  man  of  scien- 
tific repute  after  another  came  forward  with  the  results  of 
individual  investigation,  there  was  a  quite  ludicrous  in- 
genuity exercised  in  finding  reasons  for  discrediting  his 
scientific  culture.  He  was  said  to  be  an  amateur,  not  a  pro- 
fessional; or  a  specialist  without  adequate  generality  of  view 
and  training;  or  a  mere  discoverer  not  acquainted  with  the 
strict  methods  of  experimental  research;  or  he  was  not  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  or  if  he  was  it  was  by  an  un- 
fortunate accident.  We  must  not  expect  any  decisive  effect 
in  the  direction  at  which  we  primarily  aim,  on  the  common 
sense  of  mankind,  from  any  single  piece  of  evidence,  how- 
ever complete  it  has  been  made.  Scientific  incredulity  has 
been  so  long  in  growing,  and  has  so  many  and  so  strong 
roots,  that  we  shall  only  kill  it,  if  we  are  able  to  kill  it  at  all 
as  regards  any  of  those  questions,  by  burying  it  alive  under 
a  heap  of  facts.  We  must  keep  "  pegging  away,"  as 
Lincoln  said;  we  must  accumulate  fact  upon  fact,  and  add 
experiment  upon  experiment,  and,  I  should  say,  not  wrangle 
too  much  with  incredulous  outsiders  about  the  conclusiveness 
of  any  one,  but  trust  to  the  mass  of  evidence  for  conviction. 
The  highest  degree  of  demonstrative  force  that  we  can  ob- 
tain out  of  any  single  record  of  investigation  is,  of  course, 
limited  by  the  trustworthiness  of  the  investigator.  We  have 
done  all  that  we  can  when  the  critic  has  nothing  left  to  al- 
lege except  that  the  investigator  is  in  the  trick.  But  when 
he  has  nothing  else  left  to  allege  he  will  allege  that. 

We  shall,  I  hope,  make  a  point  of  bringing  no  evidence 
before  the  public  until  we  have  got  it  to  this  pitch  of  cogency. 

To  many  enthusiasts  outside  and  to  some  of  those  inside 
the  Society  —  who,  through  long  acquaintance  with  the 


phenomena  under  investigation,  were  already  thoroughly 
convinced  of  their  genuine  character  —  this  attitude  on  the 
part  of  the  founders  and  leaders  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  always  seemed  wrong-headed,  and  sometimes 
proved  irritating  to  an  almost  unbearable  degree.  The 
hostility  of  the  outside  world  and  of  orthodox  science  to  the 
investigation,  though  at  times  fierce  and  scornful,  and  al- 
ways weighty  and  significant,  has  been  comparatively  mild 
—  perhaps  because  fragmentary  and  intermittent  —  when 
compared  with  the  bitter  and  fairly  continuous  diatribes 
which  have  issued,  and  still  often  issue,  from  the  spiritual- 
istic press  against  the  slow  and  ponderous  and  repellent 
attitude  of  those  responsible  for  the  working  of  the  So- 
ciety. 

It  has  been  called  a  society  for  the  suppression  of  facts, 
for  the  wholesale  imputation  of  imposture,  for  the  dis- 
couragement of  the  sensitive,  and  for  the  repudiation  of 
every  revelation  of  the  kind  which  was  said  to  be  pressing 
itself  upon  humanity  from  the  regions  of  light  and  knowl- 
edge. 

Well,  we  have  had  to  stand  this  buffeting,  as  well  as  the 
more  ponderous  blows  inflicted  by  the  other  side;  and  it 
was  hardly  necessary  to  turn  the  cheek  to  the  smiter,  since 
in  an  attitude  of  face-forward  progress  the  buffets  were 
sure  to  come  with  fair  impartiality;  greater  frequency  on 
the  one  side  making  up  for  greater  strength  on  the  other. 

REPLY  TO  RELIGIOUS  CRITICS 

There  is  a  persistent  class  of  objector,  however,  whose 
attacks  are  made  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger,  and  whose 
earnest  remonstrances  are  thus  sympathetically  parried  by 
the  founders  of  the  Society: — 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY  7 

One  word  in  reference  to  another  objection,  which  pro- 
ceeds from  a  different  quarter.  There  are  not  a  few 
religious  persons  who  see  no  reason  to  doubt  our  alleged 
facts,  but  who  regard  any  experimental  investigation  of 
them  as  wrong,  because  they  must  be  the  work  either  of  the 
devil  or  of  familiar  spirits,  with  whom  the  Bible  forbids  us 
to  have  dealings.  .  .  .  What  we  should  urge  upon  our 
religious  friends  is  that  their  scruples  have  really  no  place  in 
the  present  stage  of  our  investigation,  when  the  question 
before  us  is  whether  certain  phenomena  are  to  be  referred 
to  the  agency  of  Spirits  at  all,  even  as  a  "  working  hypothe- 
sis." .  .  .  Many  of  us,  I  think,  will  be  amply  content 
if  we  can  only  bring  this  first  stage  of  our  investigation  to 
something  like  a  satisfactory  issue;  we  do  not  look  further 
ahead;  and  we  will  leave  it  for  those  who  may  come  after  to 
deal  with  any  moral  problems  that  may  possibly  arise  when 
this  first  stage  is  passed. 

There  are  persons  who  believe  themselves  to  have  certain 
knowledge  on  the  most  important  matters  on  which  we  are 
seeking  evidence,  who  do  not  doubt  that  they  have  received 
communications  from  an  unseen  world  of  spirits,  but  who 
think  that  such  communications  should  be  kept  as  sacred 
mysteries  and  not  exposed  to  be  scrutinised  in  the  mood  of 
cold  curiosity  which  they  conceive  to  belong  to  science. 
Now  we  do  not  wish  to  appear  intrusive;  at  the  same  time 
we  are  anxious  not  to  lose  through  .mere  misunderstanding 
any  good  opportunities  for  investigation:  and  I  therefore 
wish  to  assure  such  persons  that  we  do  not  approach  these 
matters  in  any  light  or  trivial  spirit,  but  with  an  ever-present 
sense  of  the  vast  importance  of  the  issues  involved,  and  with 
every  desire  to  give  reverence  wherever  reverence  is  found 
to  be  due.  But  we  feel  bound  to  begin  by  taking  these  ex- 
periences, however  important  and  however  obscure,  as  a 
part  of  the  great  aggregate  which  we  call  Nature;  and  we 
must  ascertain  carefully  and  systematically  their  import, 
their  laws  and  causes,  before  we  can  rationally  take  up  any 
definite  attitude  of  mind  with  regard  to  them.  The  un- 
known or  uncommon  is  not  in  itself  an  object  of  reverence; 


8  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

there  is  no  sacredness  in  the  mere  limitations  of  our  knowl- 
edge. ^ 

This,  then,  is  what  we  mean  by  a  scientific  spirit;  that  we 
approach  the  subject  without  prepossessions,  but  with  a 
single-minded  desire  to  bring  within  the  realm  of  orderly  and 
accepted  knowledge  what  now  appears  as  a  chaos  of  in- 
dividual beliefs. 

It  is  instructive  to  look  back  at  the  original  programme 
issued  by  the  Society,  which  is  now  housed  at  20  Hanover 
Square;  and  accordingly  I  make  a  few  quotations  from  the 
prelude  to  its  first  volume  of  Proceedings,  wherein  is  con- 
tained a  statement  of  its  aims  and  objects : — 


PROGRAMME  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

From  the  recorded  testimony  of  many  competent  witnesses, 
past  and  present,  including  observations  recently  made  by 
scientific  men  of  eminence  in  various  countries,  there  appears 
to  be,  amidst  much  illusion  and  deception,  an  important 
body  of  remarkable  phenomena,  which  are  prima  facie  in- 
explicable on  any  generally  recognised  hypothesis,  and  which, 
if  incontestably  established,  would  be  of  the  highest  possible 
value. 

The  task  of  examining  such  residual  phenomena  has  often 
been  undertaken  by  individual  effort,  but  never  hitherto  by 
a  scientific  society  organized  on  a  sufficiently  broad  basis. 
As  a  preliminary  step  towards  this  end,  a  Conference,  con- 
vened by  Professor  Barrett,  was  held  in  London,  on  Jan- 
uary 6th,  1882,  and  a  Society  for  Psychical  Research  was 
projected.  The  Society  was  definitely  constituted  on  Feb- 
ruary 2Oth,  1882,  and  its  Council,  then  appointed,  sketched 
out  a  programme  of  future  work: — 

1.  An  examination  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  any  in- 

fluence which  may  be  exerted  by  one  mind  upon 
another,  apart  from  any  generally  recognised  mode 
of  perception. 

2.  The  study  of  hypnotism,  and  the  form  of  so-called 


mesmeric  trance,  with  its  alleged  insensibility  to 
pain;  clairvoyance  and  other  allied  phenomena. 

3.  A  critical  revision  of  Reichenbach's  researches  with 

certain  organisations  called  "  sensitive,"  and  an 
inquiry  whether  such  organisations  possess  any 
power  of  perception  beyond  a  highly  exalted  sen- 
sibility of  the  recognised  sensory  organs. 

4.  A  careful  investigation  of  any  reports,   resting  on 

strong  testimony,  regarding  apparitions  at  the 
moment  of  death,  or  otherwise,  or  regarding  dis- 
turbances in  houses  reputed  to  be  haunted. 

5.  An   inquiry   into    the   various   physical   phenomena 

commonly  called  Spiritualistic;  with  an  attempt 
to  discover  their  causes  and  general  laws. 

6.  The   collection  and  collation  of  existing  materials 

bearing  on  the  history  of  these  subjects. 

The  aim  of  the  Society  is  to  approach  these  various  prob- 
lems without  prejudice  or  prepossession  of  any  kind,  and  in 
the  same  spirit  of  exact  and  unimpassioned  inquiry  which 
has  enabled  Science  to  solve  so  many  problems,  once  not 
less  obscure  nor  less  hotly  debated.  The  founders  of  this 
Society  fully  recognize  the  exceptional  difficulties  which  sur- 
round this  branch  of  research;  but  they  nevertheless  hope 
that  by  patient  and  systematic  effort  some  results  of 
permanent  value  may  be  attained. 

To  prevent  misconception,  it  must  be  expressly  stated 
that  Membership  of  the  Society  does  not  imply  the  accep- 
tance of  any  particular  explanation  of  the  phenomena  in- 
vestigated, nor  any  belief  as  to  the  operation,  in  the  physical 
world,  of  forces  other  than  those  recognised  by  Physical 
Science. 

And  to  this  I  may  add  that  all  seriously  interested 
people  are  welcome  as  members,  provided  they  have  no 
selfish  or  commercial  ends  to  serve  by  seeking  to  join. 
Their  interest,  and  in  a  minor  degree  their  subscription, 
tend  to  promote  the  object  we  have  in  view.  Merely  su- 
perstitious and  emotional  people  would  find  themselves  out 


io  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

of  place  at  our  meetings,  but  otherwise  we  do  not  seek  to 
be  exclusive.  It  is  a  kind  of  work  to  which  any  fair- 
minded  and  honest  person  can,  as  opportunity  offers,  con- 
tribute his  or  her  share. 


CHAPTER  II 

PRACTICAL  WORK  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

IN  the  three  earliest  years  of  the  present  century  it  fell 
to  my  lot  to  occupy  the  Presidential  Chair  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  and  to  give  an  Address 
each  year.  One  of  those  Addresses  —  the  one  for  1903 
—  dealt  with  the  lines  of  profitable  work  which  seemed 
at  that  time  to  be  opening  before  us;  and,  since  the  general 
nature  of  our  investigation  is  there  referred  to  in  a  pre- 
liminary manner,  it  is  useful  to  reproduce  it  here  as  an  in* 
troduction  to  the  more  detailed  records  which  follow. 

Our  primary  aim  is  to  be  a  Scientific  Society,  to  conduct 
our  researches  and  to  record  our  results  in  an  accurate  and 
scientific  manner,  so  as  to  set  an  example  of  careful  work 
in  regions  where  it  has  been  the  exception  rather  than  the 
rule,  and  to  be  a  trustworthy  guide  to  the  generation  of 
workers  who  shall  follow. 

To  be  scientific  does  not  mean  to  be  infallible,  but 
it  means  being  clear  and  honest,  and  as  exact  as  we  know 
how  to  be.  In  difficult  investigations  pioneers  have  always 
made  some  mistakes,  they  have  no  immediate  criterion  or 
infallible  touchstone  to  distinguish  the  more  true  from  the 
less  true,  but  if  they  record  their  results  with  anxious  care 
and  scrupulous  honesty  and  painstaking  precision,  their  mis- 
takes are  only  less  valuable  to  the  next  generation  than  their 
partially  true  generalisations;  and  sometimes  it  turns  out, 
after  a  century  or  so,  that  mistakes  made  by  early  pioneers 
were  no  such  thorough  errors  as  had  been  thought,  but  they 

II 


12  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

had  an  element  of  truth  in  them  all  the  time,  as  if 
discoverers  were  endowed  with  a  kind  of  prophetic  insight 
whereby  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  theories  and  truths  which 
it  would  take  several  generations  of  workers  to  disencumber 
and  bring  clearly  to  light. 

Suppose,  however,  that  their  errors  were  real  ones,  the 
record  of  their  work  is  just  as  important  to  future  naviga- 
tors as  it  is  to  have  the  rocks  and  shoals  of  a  channel 
mapped  out  and  buoyed.  It  is  work  which  must  be  done. 
The  great  ship  passing  straight  to  its  destination  is  enabled 
to  attain  this  directness  and  speed  by  the  combined  labours 
of  a  multitude  of  workers,  some  obscure  and  forgotten, 
some  distinguished  and  remembered,  but  few  of  them  able 
to  realise  its  stately  passage.  So  it  is  also  with  every  great 
erection, —  much  of  the  work  is  indirect  and  hidden; — the 
Forth  Bridge  stands  upon  piers  sunk  below  the  water-mark 
by  the  painful  and  long  continued  labours  of  Italian  work- 
men in  "  caissons  "  full  of  compressed  and  heated  air. 

The  study  of  specifically  Natural  knowledge  was  fostered 
and  promoted  by  the  recognition  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.  of  a  body  of  enthusiasts  who,  during  the  disturbed  but 
hopeful  era  of  the  Commonwealth,  had  met  together  to 
discuss  problems  of  scientific  interest;  and  to-day  the  Royal 
Society  is  among  the  dignified  institutions  of  our  land,  tak- 
ing all  branches  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Natural  History 
—  the  Physical  Sciences  and  the  Biological  Sciences  — 
under  its  wing. 

Us  it  does  not  recognise;  but  then  neither  does  it 
recognise  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  or  Ethics,  or 
Psychology,  or  History,  or  any  part  of  a  great  region  of 
knowledge  which  has  hitherto  been  regarded  as  outside  the 
pale  of  the  Natural  Sciences. 

It  is  for  us  to  introduce  our  subjects  within  that  pale,  if 


PRACTICAL  WORK  13 

it  turns  out  that  there  they  properly  belong;  and  if  not,  it  is 
for  us  to  do  pioneer  work  and  take  our  place  by  the  side  of 
that  group  of  Societies  whose  object  is  the  recognition  and 
promotion  of  work  in  the  mental,  the  psychological,  the 
philosophical  direction,  until  the  day  for  unification  shall 
arrive. 

Half  knowledge  sees  divisions  and  emphasises  barriers, 
delights  in  classification  into  genera  and  species,  affixes 
labels,  and  studies  things  in  groups.  And  all  this  work  is 
of  the  utmost  practical  value  and  is  essentially  necessary. 
That  the  day  will  come  when  barriers  shall  be  broken  down, 
when  species  shall  be  found  to  shade  off  into  one  another, 
when  continuity  and  not  classification  shall  be  the  dominant 
feature,  may  be  anticipated  by  all;  but  we  have  no  power  of 
hastening  the  day  except  by  taking  our  place  in  the  work- 
shop and  doing  our  assigned  quota;  still  less  do  we  gain 
any  advantage  by  pretending  that  the  day  of  unification  has 
arrived  while  as  yet  its  dawn  is  still  in  the  future. 

POPULAR  MISTRUST  OF  SCIENCE,  AND  ITS  REMEDY 

Our  primary  aim  is  to  be  a  scientific  Society,  doing 
pioneering  and  foundation  work  in  a  new  and  not  yet  in- 
corporated plot  on  which  future  generations  may  build,  and 
making  as  few  mistakes  as  we  can  reasonably  contrive  by 
the  exercise  of  great  care.  We  are  not  a  literary  society, 
though  we  have  had  men  of  letters  among  our  guides  and 
leaders;  and  we  are  not  a  religious  society,  though  some  of 
the  members  take  an  interest  in  our  subject  because  it 
seems  to  them  to  have  a  bearing  on  their  religious  convic- 
tions or  hopes.  I  will  say  a  few  words  on  both  these 
points. 

First,  our  relations  to  literature: 


I4  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

The  name  of  Francis  Bacon  is  a  household  word  in  the 
history  of  English  scientific  ideas.  I  do  not  mean  in  the 
recent,  and  as  it  seems  to  me  comic,  aspect,  that  he  wrote 
everything  that  was  written  in  the  Elizabethan  era  (a 
matter  to  which  I  wish  to  make  no  reference  one  way  or  the 
other,  for  it  is  completely  off  my  path).  But,  before  that 
hare  was  started,  his  name  was  weighty  and  familiar  in 
the  history  of  English  scientific  ideas;  and  it  is  instructive 
to  ask  why.  Was  he  a  man  of  Science?  No.  Did  he 
make  discoveries?  No.  Do  scientific  men  trace  back 
their  ancestry  to  him?  No.  To  Isaac  Newton  they  trace 
it  back,  to  Gilbert,  to  Roger  Bacon,  speaking  for  those  in 
England;  but  of  Francis  Bacon  they  know  next  to  nothing. 
Outside  England  all  the  world  traces  its  scientific  ancestry 
to  Newton,  to  Descartes,  to  Galileo,  to  Kepler;  but  of 
Francis  Bacon  scientific  men  outside  England  have  scarcely 
heard,  save  as  Aman  of  letters.  Yet  the  progress  of  science 
owes  much  to  fyim.  All  unconsciously  scientific  men  owe 
to  him  a  great  debt.  Why? 

Because  he  perceived  afar  off  the  oncoming  of  the 
scientific  wave,  and  because  he  was  able,  in  language  to 
which  men  would  listen,  to  herald  and  welcome  its  advance. 

Scientifically  he  was  an  amateur;  but  he  was  an  enthusiast 
who  with  splendid  eloquence,  with  the  fire  of  genius,  and 
with  great  forensic  skill,  was  able  to  impress  his  generation, 
and  not  his  own  generation  alone,  with  some  idea  of  the 
dignity  and  true  place  of  science,  and  to  make  it  possible 
for  the  early  pioneers  of  the  Royal  Society  to  pursue  their 
labours  unimpeded  by  persecution  and  to  gain  some  sort  of 
recognition  even  from  general  and  aristocratic  Society. 

For  remember  that  the  term  "science"  was  not  always 
respectable.  To  early  ears  it  sounded  almost  as  the  term 
witchcraft  or  magic  sounds,  it  was  a  thing  from  which  to 


PRACTICAL  WORK  15 

warn  young  people;  it  led  to  atheism  and  to  many  other 
abominations.  It  was  an  unholy  prying  into  the  secrets  of 
Nature  which  were  meant  to  be  hid  from  our  eyes;  it  was  a 
thing  against  which  the  Church  resolutely  set  its  face,  a  thing 
for  which  it  was  ready  if  need  were  to  torture  or  to  burn  those 
unlucky  men  of  scientific  genius  who  were  born  before  their 
time.  I  mean  no  one  Church  in  particular:  I  mean  the 
religious  world  generally.  Science  was  a  thing  allied  to 
heresy,  a  thing  to  hold  aloof  from,  to  shudder  at,  and  to 
attribute  to  the  devil.  All  which  treatment  that  great  and 
eminent  pioneer,  Roger  Bacon,  experienced  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford;  because  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe. 

How  came  it  that  a  little  later,  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts, 
the  atmosphere  was  so  different  from  that  prevalent  in  the 
days  of  the  Plantagenets?  Doubtless  the  age  of  Elizabeth, 
the  patriotism  aroused  by  the  Armada  and  by  the  great 
discoveries  in  geography,  had  had  their  vivifying  effect;  and 
the  same  sort  of  originality  of  thought  which  did  not  scruple 
to  arraign  a  king  for  high  treason  likewise  ventured  to  set 
orthodoxy  at  defiance,  and  to  experiment  upon  and  investi- 
gate openly  all  manner  of  natural  facts.  But,  in  partial 
contradiction  to  the  expressed  opinion  of  some  men  of 
science,  I  am  disposed  to  agree  to  a  considerable  extent  with 
the  popular  British  view  that  the  result  was  largely  due  to 
the  influence  of  the  writings  of  Francis  Bacon.  He  had 
accustomed  scholars  and  literary  men  to  the  possibilities  and 
prerogatives  of  scientific  inquiry,  he  had  emphasised  the 
importance  and  the  dignity  of  experiment,  and  it  is  due  to  his 
writings  that  the  rapid  spread  of  scientific  ideas,  discovered 
as  always  by  a  few,  became  acceptable  to  and  spread  among 
the  many. 

Do  not  let  us  suppose,  however,  that  the  recognition  of 
science  was  immediate  and  universal.  Dislike  of  it,  and 


1 6  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

mistrust  of  the  consequences  of  scientific  inquiry  —  es- 
pecially in  geology  and  anthropology, —  persisted  well  into 
the  Victorian  era,  and  is  not  wholly  extinct  at  the  present 
day.  Quite  apart  from  antipathy  to  investigation  into 
affairs  of  the  mind  —  which  is  unpopular  and  mistrusted 
still,  so  that  good  people  are  still  found  who  will  attribute 
anything  unusual  to  the  devil,  and  warn  young  people  from 
it, —  there  is  some  slight  trace  of  lingering  prejudice  against 
the  orthodox  sciences  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  and 
and  Biology.  They  have  achieved  their  foothold,  they  are 
regarded  with  respect  —  people  do  not  disdain  to  make 
money  by  means  of  them  when  the  opportunity  is  forthcom- 
ing —  but  they  are  not  really  liked.  They  are  admitted  to 
certain  schools  on  sufferance,  as  an  inferior  grade  of  study 
suited  to  the  backward  and  the  ignorant;  they  are  not  re- 
garded with  affection  and  enthusiasm  as  revelations  of 
Divine  working  to  be  studied  reverently,  nor  as  subjects  in 
which  the  youth  of  a  nation  may  be  wholesomely  and  solidly 
trained. 

Very  well,  still  more  is  the  time  not  quite  ripe  for  our 
subject;  pioneers  must  expect  hard  knocks,  the  mind  of  a 
people  can  change  only  slowly.  Until  the  mind  of  a  people 
is  changed,  new  truths  born  before  their  time  must  suffer 
the  fate  of  other  untimely  births;  and  the  prophet  who 
preaches  them  must  expect  to  be  mistaken  for  a  useless 
fanatic,  of  whom  every  age  has  always  had  too  many,  and 
must  be  content  to  be  literally  or  metaphorically  put  to  death, 
as  part  of  the  process  of  the  regeneration  of  the  world. 

The  dislike  and  mistrust  and  disbelief  in  the  validity  or 
legitimacy  of  psychical  inquiry  is  familiar:  the  dislike  of 
the  Natural  Sciences  is  almost  defunct.  It  survives,  un- 
doubtedly —  they  are  not  liked,  though  they  are  tolerated 
—  and  I  am  bound  to  say  that  part  of  the  surviving  dislike 


PRACTICAL  WORK  17 

is  due  not  alone  to  heredity  and  imbibed  ideas,  but  to  the 
hasty  and  intolerant  and  exuberant  attitude  of  some  men 
of  science,  who,  knowing  themselves  to  be  reformers,  feel- 
ing that  they  have  a  grain  of  seed-corn  to  plant  and  water, 
have  not  always  been  content  to  go  about  their  business  in 
a  calm  and  conciliatory  spirit,  but  have  sought  to  hurry 
things  on  by  a  rough-shod  method  of  progression,  which 
may  indeed  attain  its  ends,  but  gives  some  pain  in  the 
process,  and  perhaps  achieves  results  less  admirable  than 
those  which  might  have  been  attained  by  the  exercise  of  a 
little  patience,  a  little  more  perception  of  the  point  of  view 
of  others,  a  little  more  imagination,  a  little  more  of  that 
recognition  of  the  insignificance  of  trifles  and  of  the  transi- 
tory character  of  full-blown  fashions  which  is  called  a  sense 
of  humour,  a  little  cultivation  of  the  historic  sense.  In  a 
word,  a  little  more  general  education. 

But  this  is  a  digression.  I  admit  the  importance  of 
Francis  Bacon  in  the  history  of  the  development  of  the 
national  recognition  of  the  natural  sciences  in  England;  and 
I  wish  to  suggest  that  in  the  history  of  the  psychical 
sciences  we  too  have  had  a  Bacon, —  and  one  not  long  de- 
parted from  us.  It  is  possible  that  in  his  two  posthumous 
volumes  we  have  a  book  which  posterity  will  regard  as  a 
Novum  Organon.  History  does  not  repeat  itself,  and  I 
would  not  draw  the  parallel  too  close.  It  may  be  that 
posterity  will  regard  Myers  as  much  more  than  that, —  as 
a  philosophic  pioneer  who  has  not  only  secured  recognition 
for,  but  has  himself  formulated  some  of  the  philosophic 
unification  of,  a  mass  of  obscure  and  barely  recognised 
human  faculties, —  thereby  throwing  a  light  on  the  meaning 
of  "  personality  "  which  may  survive  the  test  of  time.  It 
may  be  so,  but  that  is  for  no  one  living  to  say.  Posterity 
alone,  by  aid  of  the  experience  and  further  knowledge 


i8  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

which  time  brings,  is  able  to  make  a  judgment  of  real  value 
on  such  a  topic  as  that. 

Meanwhile  it  is  for  us  to  see  that  time  does  bring  this 
greater  knowledge  and  experience.  For  time  alone  is  im- 
potent. Millions  of  years  passed  on  this  planet,  during 
which  the  amount  of  knowledge  acquired  was  small  or  nil. 
Up  to  the  sixteenth  century,  even,  scientific  progress  was  at 
the  least  slow.  Recently  it  has  been  rapid, —  none  too 
rapid,  but  rapid.  The  rate  of  advance  depends  upon  the 
activities  and  energies  of  each  generation,  and  upon  the 
organization  and  machinery  which  it  has  inherited  from  its 
immediate  forebears. 

The  pioneers  who  created  the  S.  P.  R.  have  left  it  in 
trust  with  us  to  hand  it  on  to  future  generations,  an  efficient 
and  powerful  machine  for  the  spread  of  scientific  truth, — 
an  engine  for  the  advancement  of  science  in  a  direction 
overgrown  with  thickets  of  popular  superstition,  intermixed 
with  sandy  and  barren  tracts  of  resolute  incredulity.  We 
have  to  steer  our  narrow  way  between  the  Scylla  of  stony 
minds  with  no  opening  in  our  direction,  and  the  Charybdis 
of  easy  and  omnivorous  acceptance  of  every  straw  and  waif, 
whether  of  truth  or  falsehood,  that  may  course  with  the  cur- 
rents of  popular  superstition. 

NEED  FOR  QUALIFIED  INVESTIGATORS 

Realising  this  to  be  our  duty,  and  perceiving  that  we  have 
a  long  period  of  danger  and  difficulty  before  us,  it  has  be- 
come evident  to  persons  of  clear  vision  that  the  Society  must 
be  established  on  a  sound  and  permanent  basis,  and  must 
endeavour  to  initiate  an  attitude  of  regarding  the  psychical 
sciences  as  affording  the  same  sort  of  scope  to  a  career,  the 
same  sort  of  opportunities  of  earning  a  livelihood,  as  do 


PRACTICAL  WORK  19 

the  longer  recognised  sciences, —  those  which  are  more 
specifically  denominated  "  natural,"  because  of  the  way  they 
fit  into  our  idea  of  the  scheme  of  nature  as  by  us  at  present 
recognised,  or  at  any  rate  because  they  deal  with  facts  to 
which  we  have  gradually  grown  accustomed. 

Any  young  man  who  wishes  to  make  money  should  be 
warned  off  the  pursuit  of  pure  science  at  the  outset.  People 
who  enter  the  field  with  that  object  in  view  will  do  neither 
themselves  nor  science  any  good.  A  certain  amount  of  en- 
thusiasm and  pioneering  proclivity  is  essential,  but  fortu- 
nately that  has  never  yet  been  wanting  in  our  race;  witness 
the  hardships  willingly  entered  upon,  and  the  risks  run,  in 
Arctic  or  Antartic  exploration,  for  nothing  more  than  a  liv- 
ing wage.  A  living  wage  is  however  to  many  a  necessity. 
It  has  always  been  recognised  that  those  who  labour  at  the 
altar  should  live  by  the  altar;  and  a  minimum  of  provision 
for  bread  and  homely  needs  ought  to  be  at  the  disposal  of 
a  Society  like  this  wherewith  to  enable  a  person  of  ability 
and  enthusiasm  to  undertake  the  prosecution  of  our  re- 
searches in  a  definite  and  continuous  and  so  to  speak  profes- 
sional manner.  Hitherto  we  have  depended  on  the  spontane- 
ous and  somewhat  spasmodic  work  of  amateurs,  often  of 
wealthy  amateurs,  before  whose  minds  such  questions  as 
salary  never  even  momentarily  pass.  We  shall  always  have 
need  of  services  such  as  theirs.  In  the  more  orthodox 
sciences,  in  Physics  for  instance,  it  has  been  notorious  that 
throughout  the  last  century  the  best  work  has  often  been  done 
by  people  who  —  having  the  means  of  living  otherwise  se- 
cured to  them  —  were  able  to  devote  their  time,  and  often 
considerable  means  too,  to  the  prosecution  of  research. 
There  has  been  no  rule  either  way.  Some  of  the  leaders 
have  been  paid  a  small  salary,  like  Faraday:  others  have 
had  independent  means,  like  Cavendish  and  Joule.  Always, 


20  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

I  say,  we  shall  depend  upon  and  be  grateful  for  the  spon- 
taneous work  and  help  of  people  of  means;  but  we  must 
not  depend  solely  upon  that,  else  will  young  people  of 
genius  be  diverted  by  sheer  force  of  circumstance  into  other 
channels,  and  our  nascent  science  will  lose  the  benefit  of 
their  powers  and  continuous  work. 

We  cannot  always  depend  on  spontaneous  cases  alone. 
They  are  most  important,  and  are  often  extremely  valuable 
instances  of  a  spontaneous  and  purposeful  exercise  of  the 
faculty  we  are  investigating,  and  it  would  be  a  great  mistake 
to  suppose  that  we  have  had  enough  of  them.  It  is  essen- 
tial that  we  be  kept  informed  of  recent  well-attested  cases, 
especially  of  apparitions  at  or  near  the  time  of  death;  but 
we  shall  not  make  progress  in  understanding  the  laws  of 
the  phenomena  and  disentangling  their  deeper  meaning  if 
we  confine  ourselves  to  observation  alone.  We  must 
experiment,  we  must  endeavour  to  produce  and  examine 
phenomena  as  it  were  in  a  laboratory  —  such  as  I  have  else- 
where foreshadowed  (Journal  S.  P.  R.,  vi.  357) —  and  must 
submit  them  to  minute  investigation. 

For  instance  there  is  the  question  of  so-called  spirit 
photography,  there  are  asserted  levitations  and  apports  and 
physical  movements,  none  of  which  have  been  subjected  to 
adequate  scientific  examination.  Many  such  cases  have  been 
examined  and  found  fraudulent,  and  there  is  great  difficulty 
in  obtaining  the  phenomena  under  prescribed  and  crucial 
conditions;  but  until  these  things  have  been  submitted  to 
long-continued  scientific  scrutiny  they  will  make  no  undis- 
puted inpression,  they  will  be  either  improperly  accepted  or 
improperly  rejected,  and  will  continue  in  that  nebulous  hazy 
region,  the  region  of  popular  superstition,  from  which  it  is 
the  business  of  this  Society  to  rescue  them;  raising  them  on 
to  the  dry  land  of  science,  or  submerging  them  as  impostures 


PRACTICAL  WORK  21 

in  the  waters  of  oblivion.  And  I  may  say  parenthetically 
that  we  do  not  care  one  iota  which  alternative  fate  is  in 
store  for  them :  we  only  want  the  truth. 

Now  I  know  that  some  few  persons  are  impatient  of  such 
an  investigation,  and  decline  to  see  any  need  for  it.  They 
feel  that  if  they  have  evidence  enough  to  justify  their  own 
belief,  further  inquiry  is  superfluous.  These  have  not  the 
scientific  spirit,  they  do  not  understand  the  meaning  of 
"  law."  A  fact  isolated  and  alone,  joined  by  no  link  to  the 
general  body  of  knowledge,  is  almost  valueless.  If  what 
they  believe  is  really  a  fact,  they  may  depend  upon  it  that 
it  has  its  place  in  the  cosmic  scheme,  a  place  which  can  be 
detected  by  human  intelligence;  and  its  whole  bearing  and 
meaning  can  gradually  be  made  out. 

Moreover  their  attitude  is  selfish.  Being  satisfied  them- 
selves they  will  help  us  no  more.  But  real  knowledge,  like 
real  wealth  of  any  kind,  cannot  be  wrapped  up  in  a  napkin; 
it  pines  for  reproduction,  for  increase:  "  how  am  I  straight- 
ened till  it  be  accomplished."  The  missionary  spirit,  in 
some  form  or  other,  is  inseparably  associated  with  all  true 
and  worthy  knowledge.  Think  of  a  man  who,  having  made 
a  discovery  in  Astronomy, —  seen  a  new  planet,  or  worked 
out  a  new  law, — should  keep  it  to  himself  and  gloat  over  it 
in  private.  It  would  be  inhuman  and  detestable  miserliness; 
even  in  a  thing  like  that,  of  no  manifest  importance  to  man- 
kind. There  would  be  some  excuse  for  a  man  who  lived 
so  much  in  advance  of  his  time  that,  like  Galileo  with  his 
newly  invented  and  applied  telescope,  he  ran  a  danger  of 
rebuffs  and  persecution  for  the  publication  of  discoveries. 
But  even  so,  it  is  his  business  to  brave  this  and  tell  out  what 
he  knows;  still  more  is  it  his  business  so  to  act  upon  the  mind 
of  his  generation  as  to  convert  it  gradually  to  the  truth,  and 
lead  his  fellows  to  accept  what  now  they  reject. 


22  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

Those  who  believe  themselves  the  repositories  of  any  form 
of  divine  truth  should  realise  their  responsibility.  They  are 
bound  in  honour  to  take  such  steps  as  may  wisely  cause  its 
perception  and  recognition  by  the  mass  of  mankind.  They 
are  not  bound  to  harangue  the  crowd  from  the  nearest  plat- 
form: that  might  be  the  very  way  to  retard  progress  and 
throw  back  the  acceptance  of  their  doctrine.  The  course  to 
pursue  may  be  much  more  indirect  than  that.  The  way 
may  be  hard  and  long,  but  to  the  possessor  of  worldly  means 
it  is  far  easier  than  to  another.  If  the  proper  administra- 
tion of  his  means  can  conduce  to  the  progress  of  science,  and 
to  the  acceptance  by  the  mass  of  mankind  of  important  and 
vivifying  knowledge  of  which  they  are  now  ignorant,  then 
surely  the  path  lies  plain. 

Argumentum  ad  Dignitatem 

Still  however  there  are  persons  who  urge  that  a  study  of 
occult  phenomena  is  beneath  the  dignity  of  science,  and  that 
nothing  will  be  gained  of  any  use  to  mankind  by  inquisitive- 
ness  regarding  the  unusual  and  the  lawless,  or  by  gravely 
attending  to  the  freaks  of  the  unconscious  or  semi-conscious 
mind. 

But  —  as  Myers  and  Gurney  said  long  ago  in  Phantasms 
of  the  Living  —  it  is  needful  to  point  out  yet  once  more, 
how  plausible  the  reasons  for  discouraging  some  novel  re- 
search have  often  seemed  to  be,  while  yet  the  advance  of 
knowledge  has  rapidly  shown  the  futility  and  folly  of  such 
discouragement. 

It  was  the  Father  of  Science  himself  who  was  the  first  to 
circumscribe  her  activity.  Socrates  expressly  excluded  from 
the  range  of  exact  inquiry  all  such  matters  as  the  movements 
and  nature  of  the  sun  and  moon.  He  wished  —  and  as  he 
expressed  his  wish  it  seemed  to  have  all  the  cogency  of  ab- 


PRACTICAL  WORK  23 

solute  wisdom  —  that  men's  minds  should  be  turned  to  the 
ethical  and  political  problems  which  truly  concerned  them, 
—  not  wasted  in  speculation  on  things  unknowable  —  things 
useless  even  could  they  be  known. 

In  a  kindred  spirit,  though  separated  from  Socrates  by  the 
whole  result  of  that  physical  science  which  Socrates  had 
deprecated,  we  find  a  great  modern  systematiser  of  human 
thought  again  endeavouring  to  direct  the  scientific  impulse 
towards  things  serviceable  to  man;  to  divert  it  from  things 
remote,  unknowable,  and  useless  if  known.  What  then,  in 
Comte's  view,  are  in  fact  the  limits  of  man's  actual  home 
and  business?  the  bounds  within  which  he  may  set  himself 
to  learn  all  he  can,  assured  that  all  will  serve  to  inform  his 
conscience  and  guide  his  life?  It  is  the  solar  system  which 
has  become  for  the  French  philosopher  what  the  street  and 
market-place  of  Athens  were  for  the  Greek. 

I  need  not  say  that  Comte's  prohibition  has  been  alto- 
gether neglected.  No  frontier  of  scientific  demarcation  has 
been  established  between  Neptune  and  Sirius,  between 
Uranus  and  Aldebaran.  Our  knowledge  of  the  fixed  stars 
increases  yearly;  and  it  would  be  rash  to  maintain  that 
human  conduct  is  not  already  influenced  by  the  conception 
thus  gained  of  the  unity  and  immensity  of  the  heavens. 

The  criticisms  which  have  met  us,  from  the  side  some- 
times of  scientific,  sometimes  of  religious  orthodoxy,  have 
embodied,  in  modernised  phraseology,  nearly  every  well- 
worn  form  of  timid  protest,  or  obscurantist  demurrer,  with 
which  the  historians  of  science  have  been  accustomed  to  give 
piquancy  to  their  long  tale  of  discovery  and  achievement. 

Sometimes  we  are  told  that  we  are  inviting  the  old 
theological  spirit  to  encroach  once  more  on  the  domain  of 
Science;  sometimes  that  we  are  endeavouring  to  lay  the  im- 
pious hands  of  Science  upon  the  mysteries  of  Religion. 


24  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

Sometimes  we  are  informed  that  competent  savants  have 
already  fully  explored  the  field  which  we  propose  for  our 
investigation.  Sometimes  that  no  respectable  man  of  science 
would  condescend  to  meddle  with  such  a  reeking  mass  of 
fraud  and  hysteria.  Sometimes  we  are  pitied  as  laborious 
triflers  who  prove  some  infinitely  small  matter  with  mighty 
trouble  and  pains;  sometimes  we  are  derided  as  attempting 
the  solution  of  gigantic  problems  by  slight  and  superficial 
means. 

USE  OF  CONTINUED  INVESTIGATION 

But  the  question  is  reiterated,  Why  investigate  that  of 
which  we  are  sure?  Why  conduct  experiments  in  hyp- 
notism or  in  telepathy?  Why  seek  to  confirm  that  of  which 
we  already  have  conviction?  Why  value  well-evidenced 
narratives  of  apparitions  at  times  of  death  or  catastrophe, 
when  so  many  have  already  been  collected  in  Phantasms  of 
the  Living,  and  when  careful  scrutiny  has  proved  that  they 
cannot  be  the  result  of  chance  coincidence?1  There  is  a 
quite  definite  answer  to  this  question  — -  an  answer  at  which 
I  have  already  hinted  —  which  I  wish  to  commend  to  the 
consideration  of  those  who  feel  this  difficulty  or  ask  this  sort 
of  question. 

The  business  of  Science  is  not  belief  but  investigation. 
Belief  is  both  the  prelude  to  and  the  outcome  of  knowledge. 
If  a  fact  or  a  theory  has  had  a  primd  facie  case  made  out 
for  it,  subsequent  investigation  is  necessary  to  examine  and 
extend  it. 

Effective  knowledge  concerning  anything  can  only  be  the 
result  of  long-continued  investigation ;  belief  in  the  possibility 

1  See    the    Report    of    Professor    Sidgwick's    Committee,    Proceedings 
S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  394. 


PRACTICAL  WORK  25 

of  a  fact  is  only  the  very  first  step.  Until  there  is  some 
sort  of  tentative  belief  in  the  reasonable  possibility  of  a  fact 
there  is  no  investigation, —  the  scientific  priest  and  Levite 
have  other  business,  and  pass  by  on  the  other  side.  And 
small  blame  to  them:  they  cannot  stop  to  investigate  every- 
thing that  may  be  lying  by  the  roadside.  If  they  had  been 
sure  that  it  was  a  fellow  creature  in  legitimate  distress  they 
would  have  acted  differently.  Belief  of  a  tentative  kind  will 
ensure  investigation,  not  by  all  but  by  some  of  the  scientific 
travellers  along  the  road;  but  investigation  is  the  prelude  to 
action,  and  action  is  a  long  process.  Some  one  must  attend 
to  the  whole  case  and  see  it  through.  Others,  more  pressed 
for  time,  may  find  it  easier  to  subscribe  their  "  two  pence  " 
to  an  endowment  fund,  and  so  give  indirect  but  valuable 
assistance. 

The  object  of  investigation  is  the  ascertainment  of  law, 
and  to  this  process  there  is  no  end.  What,  for  instance,  is 
the  object  of  observing  and  recording  earthquakes,  and  ar- 
ranging delicate  instruments  to  detect  the  slightest  indica- 
tion of  earth  tremor?  Every  one  knows  that  earthquakes 
exist,  there  is  no  scepticism  to  overcome  in  their  case;  even 
people  who  have  never  experienced  them  are  quite  ready  to 
believe  in  their  occurrence.  Investigation  into  earthquakes 
and  the  whole  of  the  motile  occurrences  in  the  earth's  crust, 
is  not  in  the  least  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  faith,  but 
solely  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  conditions  and 
nature  of  the  phenomena;  in  other  words,  for  the  ascertain- 
ment of  law. 

So  it  is  in  every  branch  of  science.  At  first  among  new 
phenomena  careful  observation  of  fact  is  necessary,  as  when 
Tycho  Brahe  made  measurements  of  the  motion  of  the 
planets  and  accumulated  a  store  of  careful  observations. 
Then  came  the  era  of  hypothesis,  and  Kepler  waded  through 


26  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

guess  after  guess,  testing  them  pertinaciously  to  see  if  any 
one  of  them  would  fit  all  the  facts :  the  result  of  his  strenuous 
life-work  being  the  three  laws  which  for  all  time  bear  his 
name.  And  then  came  the  majestic  deductive  epoch  of 
Newton,  welding  the  whole  into  one  comprehensive  system; 
subsequently  to  be  enriched  and  extended  by  the  labours  of 
Lagrange  and  Laplace;  after  which  the  current  of  scientific 
inquiry  was  diverted  for  a  time  into  other  less  adequately 
explored  channels. 

For  not  at  all  times  is  everything  equally  ripe  for  inquiry. 
There  is  a  phase,  or  it  may  be  a  fashion,  even  in  Science. 
I  spoke  of  geographical  exploration  as  the  feature  of 
Elizabeth's  time.  Astronomical  inquiry  succeeded  it. 
Optics  and  Chemistry  were  the  dominating  sciences  of  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Heat  and  Geology  of 
the  middle,  Electricity  and  Biology  of  the  later  portion. 
Not  yet  has  our  branch  of  psychology  had  its  phase  of  pop- 
ularity; nor  am  I  anxious  that  it  should  be  universally  fash- 
ionable. It  is  a  subject  of  special  interest,  and  therefore 
perhaps  of  special  danger.  In  that  respect  it  is  like  other 
studies  of  the  operations  of  mind,  like  a  scientific  enumera- 
tion of  the  phenomena  of  religion  for  instance,  like  the  study 
of  anything  which  in  its  early  stages,  looks  mysterious  and 
incomprehensible.  Training  and  some  admixture  of  other 
studies  are  necessary  for  its  healthy  investigation.  The  day 
will  come  when  the  science  r/ill  put  off  its  foggy  aspect,  be- 
wildering to  the  novice,  and  become  easier  for  the  less  well- 
balanced  and  more  ordinarily-equipped  explorer.  At 
present  it  is  like  a  mountain  shrouded  in  mist,  whose  sides 
offer  but  little  secure  foothold, —  where  climbing,  though 
possible,  is  difficult  and  dangerous. 

As  a  Society  we  exist  to  curb  venturesome  novices,  and 
to  support  trusted  and  experienced  climbers  by  roping  our- 


PRACTICAL  WORK  27 

selves  together  so  that  we  may  advance  safely  and  in  unison, 
—  guarding  ourselves  from  foolhardy  enterprises,  but  fac- 
ing such  legitimate  difficulties  as  lie  in  our  path,  and  resolved 
that,  weather  and  uncontrollable  circumstances  permitting, 
our  exploration  shall  continue,  and  the  truth,  whatever  it 
may  be,  be  ascertained. 

The  assuring  of  ourselves  as  to  facts  is  one  of  our  duties, 
and  it  is  better  to  hestitate  too  long  over  a  truth  than  to 
welcome  an  error,  for  a  false  gleam  may  lead  us  far  astray 
unless  it  is  soon  detected. 

Another  of  our  duties  is  the  making  and  testing  of 
hypotheses,  so  as  gradually  to  make  a  map  of  the  district  and 
be  able  to  explain  it  to  future  travellers.  We  have  to  com- 
bine the  labours  of  Tycho  with  those  of  Kepler,  and  thus 
prepare  the  way  for  a  future  Newton,  who  has  not  yet  ap- 
peared above  the  psychical  horizon. 

His  advent  must  depend  upon  how  far  we  of  this  and  the 
next  few  generations  are  faithful  to  our  trust,  how  far  we 
work  ourselves,  and  by  our  pecuniary  means  enable  others  to 
work;  and  I  call  upon  those  who  are  simultaneously  blessed 
with  this  world's  goods  and  likewise  inspired  with  confidence 
in  the  truth  and  value  of  mental  and  spiritual  knowledge,  to 
bethink  themselves  whether,  either  in  their  lifetime  or  by 
their  wills,  they  cannot  contribute  to  the  world's  progress  in 
a  beneficent  way,  so  as  to  enable  humanity  to  rise  to  a 
greater  height  of  aspiration  and  even  of  religion; — as  they 
will  if  they  are  enabled  to  start  with  a  substantial  foundation 
of  solid  scientific  fact  on  which  to  erect  their  edifice  of  faith. 

If  it  be  said  that  investigation  should  not  be  expensive,  I 
would  point  to  what  is  expended  on  the  investigation  of 
the  orthodox  sciences.  Before  Columbus's  voyage  could  be 
undertaken,  the  Courts  of  Europe  had  to  be  appealed  to  for 
funds.  Before  astronomical  discoveries  can  be  made,  large 


28  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

observatories  and  costly  telescopes  have  to  be  provided, — 
and  not  one  only,  but  many,  so  that  by  collaboration  of  ob- 
servers in  many  parts  of  the  world  the  truth  may  be  ascer- 
tained. 

Look  at  the  expense  of  geographical  and  ethnological  ex- 
ploration to-day.  Think  of  the  highly  equipped  physical 
laboratories,  one  of  which  is  maintained  at  every  College 
or  University  in  the  civilised  world.  And  as  to  chemical 
laboratories, —  remember  that  every  large  commercial 
chemical  manufacturing  firm  in  Germany  maintains  a  band 
of  trained  and  competent  chemists,  always  investigating,  in 
the  hope  of  a  new  compound  or  a  new  process  or  some  little 
profitable  improvement. 

Money  is  not  scarce,  and  if  people  realised  the  interest 
of  science  to  the  human  race  it  would  be  poured  out  far 
more  lavishly  than  it  is  at  present.  Certain  small  special 
sums  are  now  provided  for  the  investigation  of  disease. 
The  origin  of  Malaria  has  been  traced,  and  this  disease  has 
some  chance  of  being  exterminated,  so  that  the  tropical  belt 
of  the  earth  may  become  open  to  white  habitation.  Cancer 
is  being  pursued  to  its  lair,  without  success  so  far;  but  funds 
for  researches  such  as  these  are  bound  to  be  forthcoming. 
When  practical  benefits  can  be  definitely  foreseen,  people  feel 
justified  in  spending  money  even  on  Science;  though  as  a 
rule  that  and  Education  are  things  on  which  they  arc 
specially  economical.  Municipal  extravagance  in  any  such 
direction  is  sternly  checked,  though  in  other  directions  it 
may  be  permitted. 

And  why  should  not  psychical  investigation  lead  to  prac- 
tical results?  Are  we  satisfied  with  our  treatment  of 
criminals?  As  civilised  people  are  we  content  to  grow  a 
perennial  class  of  habitual  criminals,  and  to  keep  them  in 
check  only  by  devices  appropriate  to  savages ;  hunting  them, 


PRACTICAL  WORK  29 

flogging  them,  locking  them  up,  exterminating  them?  Any 
savage  race  in  the  history  of  the  world  could  do  as  much 
as  that;  and  if  they  know  no  better  they  are  bound  to  do  it 
for  their  own  protection.  Society  cannot  let  its  malefactors 
run  wild,  any  more  than  it  can  release  its  lunatics.  Till 
it  understands  these  things  it  must  lock  them  up,  but  the 
sooner  it  understands  them  the  better;  an  attempt  at  com- 
prehension is  being  made  by  criminologists  in  Italy,  France,1 
and  elsewhere.  Force  is  no  remedy:  intelligent  treatment 
is.  Who  can  doubt  but  that  a  study  of  obscure  mental 
facts  will  lead  to  a  theory  of  the  habitual  criminal,  to  the 
tracing  of  his  malady  as  surely  as  malaria  has  been  traced 
to  the  mosquito?  And  once  we  understand  the  evil  the 
remedy  will  follow.  Already  hypnotic  treatment,  or  treat- 
ment by  suggestion,  occurs  to  one;  and  quite  normal 
measures  of  moral  improvement  can  also  be  tried.  The 
fact  of  imprisonment  ought  to  lend  itself  to  brilliant  efforts 
at  reform:  such  efforts  are  the  only  real  justification  for  de- 
struction of  liberty.  The  essence  of  manhood  is  to  be  free 
—  for  better  for  worse,  free  —  and  coercion  is  only  justified 
if  it  is  salutary.  It  is  a  great  advantage  to  doctors  to  have 
their  patients  collected  compactly  in  a  hospital  —  and  with- 
out it  medical  practice  would  languish;  it  ought  to  be  a 
similar  advantage  —  a  similar  opportunity  —  to  have 
criminals  herded  together  in  gaols,  and  lunatics  in  asylums. 
It  is  unwise  and  unscientific  to  leave  prisoners  merely  to 
the  discipline  of  warders  and  the  preaching  of  chaplains. 
That  is  not  the  way  to  attack  a  disease  of  the  body  politic. 
I  have  no  full-blown  treatment  to  suggest,  but  I  foresee  that 
there  will  be  one  in  the  future.  Experiments  are  already 
being  made  in  America,  in  the  prisons  of  Elmira  and  Con- 

1  E.  g.  Bulletin  de  I'lnstitut  General  Psychologlque,  dirige  pa/  Dr.  Pierre 
Janet,  Decembre,  1902,  p.  225. 


30  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

cord, —  experiments  of  hope,  if  not  yet  of  achievement. 
Society  will  not  be  content  always  to  employ  methods  of 
barbarism;  the  resources  of  civilisation  are  not  really  ex- 
hausted, though  for  centuries  they  have  appeared  to  be. 
The  criminal  demands  careful  study  on  the  psychical  side, 
and  remedy  or  palliation  will  be  a  direct  outcome  of  one 
aspect  of  our  researches.  The  influence  of  the  unconscious 
or  subliminal  self,  the  power  of  suggestion,  the  influence  of 
one  mind  over  another,  the  phenomena  of  so-called  "  posses- 
sion,"—  these  are  not  academic  or  scientific  facts  alone: 
they  have  a  deep  practical  bearing,  and  sooner  or  later  it 
must  be  put  to  the  proof. 

HINT  TO  INVESTIGATORS 

To  return  to  the  more  immediate  and  special  aspect  of 
our  work:  one  of  the  things  I  want  to  impress  upon  all 
readers,  especially  upon  those  who  are  gifted  with  a  faculty 
for  receiving  impressions  which  are  worth  recording,  is  that 
too  much  care  cannot  be  expended  in  getting  the  record  ex- 
act. Exact  in  every  particular,  especially  as  regards  the 
matter  of  time.  In  recording  a  vision  or  an  audition  or 
some  other  impression  corresponding  to  some  event  else- 
where, there  is  a  dangerous  tendency  to  try  to  coax  the 
facts  to  fit  some  half-fledged  preconceived  theory  and  to 
make  the  coincidence  in  point  of  time  exact. 

Such  distortions  of  truth  are  misleading  and  useless.  What 
we  want  to  know  is  exactly  how  the  things  occurred,  not  how 
the  impressionist  would  have  liked  to  have  them  occur,  or  how 
he  thinks  they  ought  to  have  occurred.  If  people  attach  im- 
portanrc  to  their  own  predilections  concerning  events  in  the 
Univeiie.  they  can  be  set  forth  in  a  footnote  for  the  guid- 
ance of  anyone  who  hereafter  may  think  of  starting  a  Uni- 


PRACTICAL  WORK  31 

verse  on  his  own  account:  but  such  speculations  are  of  no 
interest  to  us  who  wish  to  study  and  understand  the  Universe 
as  it  is.  If  the  event  preceded  the  impression,  by  all  means 
let  us  know  it, —  and  perhaps  some  one  may  be  able  to  de- 
tect a  meaning  in  the  time-interval,  when  a  great  number 
of  similar  instances  are  compared,  hereafter.  If  the  impres- 
sion preceded  the  event,  by  all  means  let  us  know  that  too, 
and  never  let  the  observation  be  suppressed  from  a  ridicu- 
lous idea  that  such  anticipation  is  impossible.  Nor  let  us 
exclude  well-attested  physical  phenomena  from  historical 
record,  on  any  similar  prejudice  of  impossibility.  We  want 
to  learn  what  is  possible,  not  to  have  minds  made  up  be- 
forehand and  distort  or  blink  the  facts  to  suit  our  preconcep- 
tions. 

If  the  correspondence  in  time  is  exact,  then  let  future 
students  be  able  to  ascertain  that  also  from  the  record;  but 
the  recorder  need  not  make  any  remark  about  "  allowing 
for  difference  of  longitude  "  or  anything  of  that  kind,  unless 
indeed  he  is  an  astronomer  or  some  one  who  thoroughly 
understands  all  about  "  time."  Arithmetic  of  that  sort  can 
be  left  to  those  who  subsequently  disentangle  and  criticise 
the  results.  The  observer  may  of  course  indicate  his  ideas 
on  the  subject  if  he  chooses,  but  his  record  should  be  accu- 
rate and  cold-blooded  and  precise.  Sentences  indicating 
contemporary  emotion,  in  so  far  as  that  is  part  of  the  facts 
to  be  recorded,  are  entirely  in  place;  but  ejaculations  of  sub- 
sequent emotion,  speculation  as  to  the  cause,  or  moralisation 
as  to  the  meaning,  are  out  of  place.  It  may  be  said  that 
these  do  no  harm,  and  can  easily  be  ignored  by  a  future 
student;  and  that  is  so  in  one  sense,  but  their  atmosphere 
is  rather  apt  to  spoil  the  record,  to  put  the  recorder  into 
an  unscientific  frame  of  mind.  And,  even  when  they  have 
biassed  him  no  whit,  they  suggest  to  a  subsequent  reader 


32  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

that  they  may  have  biassed  him,  and  so  discount  unfairly 
the  value  of  his  testimony. 

With  respect  to  the  important  subject  of  possible  pre- 
diction, on  which  our  ideas  as  to  the  ultimate  nature  of  time 
will  so  largely  depend,  every  precaution  should  be  taken  to 
put  far  from  us  the  temptation  or  the  possibility  of  improv- 
ing the  original  record  after  the  fact  to  which  it  refers  has 
occurred,  if  it  ever  does  occur;  and  to  remember  that  though 
we  have  done  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  are  in  all  respects 
honest,  and  known  to  be  honest  and  truthful,  yet  the  con- 
trary may  be  surmised  by  posterity  or  by  strangers  or 
foreigners  who  did  not  know  us;  and  even  our  friends  may 
fancy  that  we  did  more  than  we  were  aware  of,  in  some 
quite  hypothetical  access  of  somnambulic  or  automatic  trance. 
Automatic  writers  for  instance  must  be  assumed  open  to 
this  suspicion,  unless  they  take  proper  precautions  and  de- 
posit copies  of  their  writings  in  some  inaccessible  and  re- 
sponsible custody;  because  the  essence  of  their  phenomenon 
is  that  the  hand  writes  what  they  themselves  are  not  aware 
of,  and  so  it  is  an  easy  step  for  captious  critics  to  maintain 
that  it  may  also  have  been  supplemented  or  amended  in  some 
way  of  which  they  were  likewise  not  aware. 

The  establishment  of  cases  of  real  prediction,  not  mere 
inference,  is  so  vital  and  crucial  a  test  of  something  not  yet 
recognised  by  science  that  it  is  worth  every  effort  to  make 
its  evidence  secure. 

Another  thing  on  which  I  should  value  experiments  is  the 
detection  of  slight  traces  of  telepathic  power  in  quite  normal 
persons, —  in  the  average  man  for  instance,  or,  rather  more 
likely  perhaps,  in  the  average  child.  The  power  of  receiv- 
ing telepathic  impressions  may  be  a  rare  faculty  existing  only 
in  a  few  individuals,  and  in  them  fully  developed;  but  it  is 
equally  possible,  and,  if  one  may  say  so,  more  likely,  that 


PRACTICAL  WORK  33 

what  we  see  in  them  is  but  an  intensification  of  a  power 
which  exists  in  every  one  as  a  germ  or  nucleus.  If  such 
should  be  the  fact,  it  behooves  us  to  know  it;  and  its  recogni- 
tion would  do  more  to  spread  a  general  belief  in  the  fact 
of  telepathy  —  a  belief  by  no  means  as  yet  universally  or 
even  widely  spread  —  than  almost  anything  else. 

One  method  that  has  been  suggested  for  detecting  faint 
traces  of  the  power,  is  to  offer  to  a  percipient  the  choice  of 
one  out  of  two  things,  and  to  see  whether  in  multitudes  of 
events  the  predetermination  of  a  bystander  as  to  which  shall 
be  chosen,  exerts  any  influence  whatever  on  the  result. 
Many  devices  can  be  made  for  carrying  this  out,  but  ex- 
periments of  greater  interest  and  novelty  will  be  made  if 
the  devices  are  left  to  individual  ingenuity  and  experience. 
Leisure,  and  patience,  and  system,  and  industry,  are  the 
requisites :  and  if  I  do  not  myself  practise  what  I  preach,  in 
this  and  other  particulars,  it  is  because,  whatever  I  may  lack 
of  the  others,  I  am  at  present  conspicuously  lacking  in  the 
first  of  these  essentials. 

BEARING  ON  ALLIED  SUBJECTS 

There  are  many  topics  on  which  I  might  speak:  one  is 
the  recent  advance  in  our  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the 
atom,  and  the  discovery  of  facts  concerning  the  ether  and 
matter  which  I  think  must  have  some  bearing, —  some  to 
me  at  present  quite  unknown  bearing, —  on  the  theory  of 
what  are  called  "  physical  ^phenomena  ";  but  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  call  the  attention  of  educated  persons  to  the 
intense  interest  of  this  most  recent  purely  scientific  subject. 

On  another  topic  I  might  say  a  few  words,  viz.,  on  the 
ambiguity  clinging  round  the  phrase  "  action  at  a  distance," 
in  connection  with  telepathy.  Physicists  deny  action  at  a 


34  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

distance,  at  least  most  of  them  do, —  I  do  for  one; —  at  the 
same  time  I  admit  telepathy.  Therefore  it  is  supposed  I 
necessarily  assume  that  telepathy  must  be  conducted  by  an 
etherial  process  analogous  to  the  transmission  of  waves. 
That  is  however  a  non-sequitur.  The  phrase  "  action  at  a 
distance  "  js  a  technical  one.  Its  denial  signifies  that  no 
physical  force  is  exerted  save  through  a  medium.  There 
must  either  be  a  projectile  from  A  to  B,  or  a  continuous 
medium  of  some  kind  extending  from  A  to  B,  if  A  exerts 
force  upon  B,  or  otherwise  influences  it  by  a  physical  process. 

But  what  about  a  psychical  process?  There  is  no  such 
word  in  physics;  the  term  is  in  that  connection  meaningless. 
A  physicist  can  make  no  assertion  on  it  one  way  or  the  other. 
If  A  mesmerises  B,  or  if  A  makes  an  apparition  of  himself 
appear  to  B,  or  if  A  conveys  a  telepathic  impression  to  B; 
is  a  medium  necessary  then  ?  As  a  physicist  I  do  not  know : 
these  are  not  processes  I  understand.  They  may  not  be 
physical  processes  at  all. 

Take  it  further: — A  thinks  of  B,  or  A  prays  to  B,  or 
A  worships  B. —  Is  a  medium  necessary  for  these  things? 
Absolute  ignorance !  The  question  is  probably  meaning- 
less and  absurd.  Spiritual  and  psychical  events  do  not  enter 
into  the  scheme  of  Physics;  and  when  a  physicist  denies 
"  action  at  a  distance  "  he  is  speaking  of  things  he  is  com- 
petent to  deal  with, —  of  light  and  sound  and  electricity  and 
magnetism  and  cohesion  and  gravitation, —  he  is  not,  or 
should  not  be,  denying  anything  psychical  or  spiritual  at  all. 
All  the  physical  things,  he  asserts,  necessitate  a  medium; 
but  beyond  that  he  is  silent.  If  telepathy  is  an  etherial 
process,  as  soon  as  it  is  proved  to  be  an  etherial  process,  it 
will  come  into  the  realm  of  physics;  till  then  it  stays  out- 
side. 

There   are   rash   speculators   who   presume   to   say   that 


PRACTICAL  WORK  35 

spiritual  and  psychical  and  physical  are  all  one.  In  the 
higher  reaches  of  Philosophy  this  may  have  some  meaning 
—  there  may  be  some  advantage  in  thus  treating  questions 
of  ultimate  Ontology, —  boundaries  and  classification  must 
be  recognised  as  human  artifices;  but  for  practical  purposes 
distinctions  are  necessary,  and  if  people  unqualified  in  Meta- 
physics make  these  assertions  I  venture  to  say  that  the  in- 
stinct for  simplification  has  run  away  with  them,  that  they 
are  trespassing  out  of  bounds  and  preaching  what  they  do 
not  know,  eking  out  a  precarious  ignorance  with  cheap  dog- 
matism. 

There  is  one  important  topic  on  which  I  have  not  yet 
spoken, —  I  mean  the  bearing  of  our  inquiry  on  religion.  It 
is  a  large  subject  and  one  too  nearly  trenching  on  the  region 
of  emotion  to  be  altogether  suitable  for  consideration  by  a 
scientific  Society.  Yet  every  science  has  its  practical  appli- 
cations,—  though  they  are  not  part  of  the  science,  they  are 
its  legitimate  outcome, —  and  the  value  of  the  science  to 
humanity  must  be  measured  in  the  last  resort  by  the  use 
which  humanity  can  make  of  it.  To  the  enthusiast,  knowl- 
edge for  its  own  sake,  without  ulterior  ends,  may  be  enough, 
—  and  if  there  were  none  of  this  spirit  in  the  world  we 
should  be  poorer  than  we  are; — but  for  the  bulk  of  man- 
kind this  is  too  high,  too  arid  a  creed,  and  people  in  general 
must  see  just  enough  practical  outcome  to  have  faith  that 
there  may  be  yet  more. 

That  our  researches  will  ultimately  have  some  bearing, 
some  meaning,  for  the  science  of  theology,  I  do  not  doubt. 
What  that  bearing  may  be  I  can  only  partly  tell.  I  have 
indicated  in  Man  and  the  Universe,1  Chapter  II.  called  "  The 
Reconciliation,"  part  of  what  I  feel  on  the  subject,  and  I 
have  gone  as  far  in  that  article  as  I  feel  entitled  to  go.  We 

1 A  comprehensive  book  called  in  America  "  Science  &  Immortality." 


36  AIMS  AND  OBJECTS 

seek  to  unravel  the  nature  and  hidden  powers  of  man;  and  a 
fuller  understanding  of  the  attributes  of  humanity  cannot 
but  have  some  influence  on  our  theory  of  Divinity  itself. 

If  any  scientific  Society  is  worthy  of  encouragement  and 
support  it  should  surely  be  this.  If  there  is  any  object 
worthy  of  patient  and  continued  attention,  it  is  surely  these 
great  and  pressing  problems  of  whence,  what  and  whither, 
that  have  occupied  the  attention  of  Prophet  and  Philosopher 
since  human  history  began.  The  discovery  of  a  new  star, 
of  a  marking  on  Mars,  of  a  new  element,  or  of  a  new  ex- 
tinct animal  or  plant,  is  interesting:  surely  the  discovery  of 
a  new  human  faculty  is  interesting  too.  Already  the  dis- 
covery of  "  telepathy "  constitutes  the  first-fruits  of  this 
Society's  work,  and  it  has  laid  the  way  open  to  the  dis- 
covery of  much  more.  Our  aim  is  nothing  less  than  the 
investigation  and  better  comprehension  of  human  faculty, 
human  personality,  and  human  destiny. 


SECTION  II 

EXPERIMENTAL    TELEPATHY    OR 
THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 


CHAPTER   III 

SOME    EARLY    EXPERIMENTS    IN    THOUGHT- 
TRANSFERENCE 

I  AM  not  attempting  a  history  of  the  subject;  and  for 
the  observations  of  Prof.  Barrett  and  others  in  the 
experimental  transference  of  ideas  or  images  from  one 
person  to  another  I  must  refer  students  to  the  first  volume 
of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society,  where  a  number  of  fac- 
simile reproductions  of  transferred  diagrams  and  pictures, 
which  are  of  special  interest,  will  also  be  found.  Prof. 
Barrett  had  experiments  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  William 
de  Morgan  so  long  ago  as  1870-73,  and  he  endeavoured  to 
make  a  communication  on  the  subject  to  the  British  Associa- 
tion in  1876;  but  the  subject  was  unwelcome  or  the  attempt 
premature,  and  he  naturally  encountered  rebuff.  There  was 
some  correspondence  on  the  subject  in  Nature  in  1881, 
and  an  article  in  The  Nineteenth  Century  for  June,  1882. 
All  I  shall  do  here  is  to  describe  some  later  observations  and 
experiments  of  my  own. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  leading  members  of  the  London 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  —  actuated  in  the  first  instant 
largely  by  Prof.  Barrett's  report  —  investigated  the  mat- 
ter, and  gradually  by  pertinacious  experiment  became  con- 
vinced of  the  reality  of  thought  transference, —  taking  due 
precaution,  as  their  experience  enlarged,  against  the  extra- 
ordinary ingenuity  and  subtle  possibility  of  code  signalling, 
and  discriminating  carefully  between  the  genuine  phenome- 
non and  the  thought-reading  or  rather  muscle-reading  ex- 

39 


40  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

hibitions,  with  actual  or  partial  contact,  which  at  one  time 
were  much  in  vogue. 

Before  coming  to  our  conclusion  as  to  Thought-trans- 
ference, says  Prof.  Sidgwick,  we  considered  carefully  the 
arguments  brought  forward  for  regarding  cases  of  so-called 
"  Thought-reading "  as  due  to  involuntary  indications 
apprehended  through  the  ordinary  senses;  and  we  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  ordinary  experiments,  where  con- 
tact was  allowed,  could  be  explained  by  the  hypothesis  of 
unconscious  sensibility  to  involuntary  muscular  pressure. 
Hence  we  have  always  attached  special  importance  to  ex- 
periments in  which  contact  was  excluded;  with  regard  to 
which  this  particular  hypothesis  is  clearly  out  of  court. 

My  own  first  actual  experience  of  Thought-transference, 
or  experimental  Telepathy,  was  obtained  in  the  years 
1883  and  1884  at  Liverpool,  when  I  was  invited  by  Mr. 
Malcolm  Guthrie  of  that  city  to  join  in  an  investigation 
which  he  was  conducting  with  the  aid  of  one  or  two  persons 
who  had  turned  out  to  be  sensitive,  from  among  the  em- 
ployees of  the  large  drapery  firm  of  George  Henry  Lee  & 
Co. 

A  large  number  of  these  experiments  had  been  conducted, 
before  I  was  asked  to  join,  throughout  the  Spring  and 
Autumn  of  1883,  but  it  is  better  for  me  to  adhere  strictly 
to  my  own  experience  and  to  relate  only  those  experiments 
over  which  I  had  control.  Accordingly  I  reproduce  here 
a  considerable  part  of  my  short  paper  on  the  subject,  origi- 
nally published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychi- 
cal Research. 

Most  of  these  experiments  were  confirmations  of  the  kind 
of  thing  that  had  been  observed  by  other  experimenters. 
But  one  experiment  which  I  tried  was  definitely  novel,  and, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  important;  since  it  clearly  showed  that 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  41 

when  two  agents  are  acting,  each  contributes  to  the  effect, 
and  that  the  result  is  due,  not  to  one  alone,  but  to  both  com- 
bined. The  experiment  is  thus  described '  by  me  in  the 
columns  of  "Nature"  vol.  xxx.  page  145: — 

AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

Those  of  your  readers  who  are  interested  in  the  subject 
of  thought-transference,  now  being  investigated,  may  be 
glad  to  hear  of  a  little  experiment  which  I  recently  tried 
here.  The  series  of  experiments  was  originated  and  carried 
on  in  this  city  by  Mr.  Malcolm  Guthrie,  and  he  has  pre- 
vailed on  me,  on  Dr.  Herdman,  and  on  one  or  two  other 
more  or  less  scientific  witnesses,  to  be  present  on  several 
occasions,  critically  to  examine  the  conditions,  and  to  impose 
any  fresh  ones  that  we  thought  desirable.  I  need  not  enter 
into  particulars,  but  I  will  just  say  that  the  conditions  under 
which  apparent  transference  of  thought  occurs  from  one  or 
more  persons,  steadfastly  thinking,  to  another  in  the  same 
room  blindfold  and  wholly  disconnected  from  the  others, 
seem  to  me  absolutely  satisfactory,  and  such  as  to  preclude 
the  possibility  of  conscious  collusion  on  the  one  hand  or  un- 
conscious muscular  indication  on  the  other. 

One  evening  last  week  —  after  two  thinkers,  or  agents, 
had  been  several  times  successful  in  instilling  the  idea  of 
some  object  or  drawing,  at  which  they  were  looking,  into 
the  mind  of  the  blindfold  person,  or  percipient  —  I  brought 
into  the  room  a  double  opaque  sheet  of  thick  paper  with  a 
square  drawn  on  one  side  and  a  St.  Andrew's  cross  or  X 
on  the  other,  and  silently  arranged  it  between  the  two 
agents  so  that  each  looked  on  one  side  without  any  notion 
of  what  was  on  the  other.  The  percipient  was  not  in- 
formed in  any  way  that  a  novel  modification  was  being 
made;  and,  as  usual,  there  was  no  contact  of  any  sort  or 
kind, —  a  clear  space  of  several  feet  existing  between  each 
of  the  three  people.  I  thought  that  by  this  variation  I 
should  decide  whether  one  of  the  the  agents  was  more  active 
than  the  other;  or,  supposing  them  about  equal,  whether  two 


42  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

ideas  in  two  separate  minds  could  be  fused  into  one  by  the 
percipient. 

In  a  very  short  time  the  percipient  made  the  following 
remarks,  every  one  else  being  silent:  "The  thing  won't 
keep  still."  "  I  seem  to  see  things  moving  about."  "First 
I  see  a  thing  up  there,  and  then  one  down  there."  "  I 
can't  see  either  distinctly."  The  object  was  then  hidden, 
and  the  percipient  was  told  to  take  off  the  bandage  and  to 
draw  the  impression  in  her  mind  on  a  sheet  of  paper.  She 
drew  a  square,  and  then  said,  "  There  was  the  other  thing 
as  well,"  and  drew  a  cross  inside  the  square  from  corner 
to  corner,  saying  afterwards,  "  I  don't  know  what  made  me 
put  it  inside." 

The  experiment  is  no  more  conclusive  as  evidence  than 
fifty  others  that  I  have  seen  at  Mr.  Guthrie's,  but  it  seems 
to  me  somewhat  interesting  that  two  minds  should  produce 
a  disconnected  sort  of  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 
percipient,  quite  different  from  the  single  impression  which 
we  had  usually  obtained  when  two  agents  were  both  look- 
ing at  the  same  thing.  Once,  for  instance  [to  take  a  nearly 
corresponding  case  under  those  conditions],  when  the  object 
was  a  rude  drawing  of  the  main  lines  in  a  Union  Jack,  the 
figure  was  reproduced  by  the  percipient  as  a  whole  without 
misgiving;  except,  indeed,  that  she  expressed  a.  doubt  as  to 
whether  its  middle  horizontal  line  were  present  or  not,  and 
ultimately  omitted  it. 

UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,  LIVERPOOL, 
5  June  1884. 


It  is  preferable  thus  to  quote  the  original  record  and  con- 
temporary mode  of  publication  of  an  experiment,  so  as  to 
avoid  the  risk  either  of  minimising  or  over-emphasising  the 
cogency  of  the  circumstances.  But  I  wish  to  say  strongly 
that  the  experiment  was  quite  satisfactory,  and  that  no  rea- 
sonable doubt  of  its  validity  has  been  felt  by  me  from  that 
time  to  this. 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  43 


REPORT  ON  THE  MAIN  SERIES 

I  now  proceed  to  give  my  report  on  the  whole  series  of 
experiments : — 

In  reporting  on  the  experiments  conducted  by  me,  at  the 
invitation  and  with  the  appliances  of  Mr.  Guthrie,  I  wish 
to  say  that  I  had  every  opportunity  of  examining  and  vary- 
ing the  minute  conditions  of  the  phenomena,  so  as  to  satisfy 
myself  of  their  genuine  and  objective  character,  in  the  same 
way  as  one  is  accustomed  to  satisfy  oneself  as  to  the  truth 
and  genuineness  of  any  ordinary  physical  fact.  If  I  had 
merely  witnessed  facts  as  a  passive  spectator  I  should  not 
publicly  report  upon  them.  So  long  as  one  is  bound  to  ac- 
cept imposed  conditions  and  merely  witness  what  goes  on, 
I  have  no  confidence  in  my  own  penetration,  and  am  perfectly 
sure  that  a  conjurer  could  impose  on  me,  possibly  even  to 
the  extent  of  making  me  think  that  he  was  not  imposing  on 
me;  but  when  one  has  control  of  the  circumstances,  can 
change  them  at  will  and  arrange  one's  own  experiments,  one 
gradually  acquires  a  belief  in  the  phenomena  observed  quite 
comparable  to  that  induced  by  the  repetition  of  ordinary 
physical  experiments. 

I  have  no  striking  or  new  phenomenon  to  report,  but  only 
a  few  more  experiments  in  the  simplest  and  most  elementary 
form  of  what  is  called  Thought-transference;  though  cer- 
tainly what  I  have  to  describe  falls  under  the  head  of 
"  Thought-transference  "  proper,  and  is  not  explicable  by 
the  merely  mechanical  transfer  of  impressions,  which  is  more 
properly  described  as  muscle-reading. 

In  using  the  term  "  Thought-transference,"  I  would  ask 
to  be  understood  as  doing  so  for  convenience,  because  the 
observed  facts  can  conveniently  be  grouped  under  such  a 


44  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

title;  but  I  would  not  be  understood  as  implying  any  theory 
on  the  subject.  It  is  a  most  dangerous  thing  to  attempt 
to  convey  a  theory  by  a  phrase;  and  to  set  forth  a  theory 
would  require  many  words.  As  it  is,  the  phrase  describes 
correctly  enough  what  appears  to  take  place,  viz.,  that  one 
person  may,  under  favourable  conditions,  receive  a  faint  im- 
pression of  a  thing  which  is  strongly  present  in  the  mind,  or 
thought,  or  sight,  or  sensorium  of  another  person  not  in  con- 
tact, and  may  be  able  to  describe  or  draw  it,  more  or  less 
correctly.  But  how  the  transfer  takes  place,  or  whether 
there  is  any  transfer  at  all,  or  what  is  the  physical  reality 
underlying  the  terms  "  mind,"  "  consciousness,"  "  impres- 
sion," and  the  like;  and  whether  this  thing  we  call  mind 
is  located  in  the  person,  or  in  the  space  round  him,  or  in 
both,  or  neither;  whether  indeed  the  term  location,  as  ap- 
plied to  mind,  is  utter  nonsense  and  simply  meaningless, — 
concerning  all  these  things  I  obtrude  no  hypothesis  whatso- 
ever. I  may,  however,  be  permitted  to  suggest  a  rough  and 
crude  analogy.  That  the  brain  is  the  organ  of  conscious- 
ness is  patent,  but  that  consciousness  is  located  in  the  brain 
is  what  no  psychologist  ought  to  assert;  for  just  as  the 
energy  of  an  electric  charge,  though  apparently  in  the  con- 
ductor, is  not  in  the  conductor,  but  in  the  space  all  round  it; 
so  it  may  be  that  the  sensory  consciousness  of  a  person, 
though  apparently  located  in  his  brain,  may  be  conceived  of 
as  also  existing  like  a  faint  echo  in  space,  or  in  other  brains, 
although  these  are  ordinarily  too  busy  and  preoccupied  to 
notice  it. 

The  experiments  which  I  have  witnessed  proceed  in  the 
following  way.  One  person  is  told  to  keep  in  a  perfectly 
passive  condition,  with  a  mind  as  vacant  as  possible;  and 
to  assist  this  condition  the  organs  of  sense  are  unexcited,  the 
eyes  being  bandaged  and  silence  maintained.  It  might  be 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  45 

as  well  to  shut  out  even  the  ordinary  street  hum  by  plugging 
the  ears,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  this  was  not  done. 

A  person  thus  kept  passive  is  "  the  percipient."  In  the 
experiments  I  witnessed  the  percipient  was  a  girl,  one  or 
other  of  two  who  had  been  accidently  found  to  possess  the 
necessary  power.  Whether  it  is  a  common  power  or  not  I 
do  not  know.  So  far  as  I  am  aware  comparatively  few  per- 
sons have  tried.  I  myself  tried,  but  failed  abjectly.  It  was 
easy  enough  to  picture  things  to  oneself,  but  they  did  not 
appear  to  be  impressed  on  me  from  without,  nor  did  any 
of  them  bear  the  least  resemblance  to  the  object  in  the  agent's 
mind.  (For  instance,  I  said  a  pair  of  scissors  instead  of  the 
five  of  diamonds, —  and  things  like  that.)  Nevertheless,  the 
person  acting  as  percipient  is  in  a  perfectly  ordinary  condi- 
tion, and  can  in  no  sense  be  said  to  be  in  a  hypnotic  state, 
unless  this  term  be  extended  to  include  the  emptiness  of  mind 
produced  by  blindfolding  and  silence.  To  all  appearance 
a  person  in  a  brown  study  is  far  more  hypnotised  than  the 
percipients  I  saw,  who  usually  unbandaged  their  own  eyes 
and  chatted  between  successive  experiments. 

Another  person  sitting  near  the  percipient,  sometimes  at 
first  holding  her  hands  but  usually  and  ordinarily  without 
any  contact  at  all  but  with  a  distinct  intervening  distance, 
was  told  to  think  hard  of  a  particular  object,  either  a  name, 
or  a  scene,  or  a  thing,  or  of  an  object  or  drawing  set  up  in 
a  good  light  and  in  a  convenient  position  for  staring  at. 
This  person  is  "  the  agent  "  and  has,  on  the  whole,  the  hard- 
est time  of  it.  It  is  a  most  tiring  and  tiresome  thing  to  stare 
at  a  letter,  or  a  triangle,  or  a  donkey,  or  a  teaspoon,  and  to 
think  of  nothing  else  for  the  space  of  two  or  three  minutes. 
Whether  the  term  "  thinking  "  can  properly  be  applied  to 
such  barbarous  concentration  of  mind  as  this  I  am  not  sure; 
its  difficulty  is  of  the  nature  of  tediousness. 


46  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

Very  frequently  more  than  one  agent  is  employed,  and 
when  two  or  three  people  are  in  the  room  they  are  all  told 
to  think  of  the  object  more  or  less  strenuously;  the  idea  being 
that  wandering  thoughts  in  the  neighbourhood  certainly  can- 
not help,  and  may  possibly  hinder,  the  clear  transfer  of  im- 
pression. As  regards  the  question  whether  when  several 
agents  are  thinking,  only  one  is  doing  the  work,  or  whether 
all  really  produce  some  effect,  a  special  experiment  has  led 
me  to  conclude  that  more  than  one  agent  can  be  active  at  the 
same  time.  We  have  some  right  therefore  to  conclude  that 
several  agents  are  probably  more  powerful  than  one,  but  that 
a  confusedness  of  impression  may  sometimes  be  produced  by 
different  agents  attending  to  different  parts  or  aspects  of  the 
object. 

Most  people  seem  able  to  act  as  agents,  though  some  ap- 
pear to  do  better  than  others.  I  can  hardly  say  whether  I 
am  much  good  at  it  or  not.  I  have  not  often  tried  alone, 
and  in  the  majority  of  cases  when  I  have  tried  I  have  failed; 
on  the  other  hand,  I  have  once  or  twice  succeeded.  We 
have  many  times  succeeded  with  agents  quite  disconnected 
from  the  percipient  in  ordinary  life,  and  sometimes  complete 
strangers  to  them.  Mr.  Birchall,  the  headmaster  of  the 
Birkdale  Industrial  School,  frequently  acted;  and  the  house 
physician  at  the  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital,  Dr.  Shears,  had  a 
successful  experiment,  acting  alone,  on  his  first  and  only  visit. 
All  suspicion  of  a  pre-arranged  code  is  thus  rendered  impos- 
sible even  to  outsiders  who  are  unable  to  witness  the  obvious 
fairness  of  all  the  experiments. 

The  object  looked  at  by  the  agent  is  placed  usually  on  a 
small  black  opaque  wooden  screen  between  the  percipient 
and  agent,  but  sometimes  it  is  put  on  a  larger  screen  behind 
the  percipient.  The  objects  were  kept  in  an  adjoining  room 
and  were  selected  and  brought  in  by  me,  with  all  due  pre- 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  47 

caution,  after  the  percipient  was  blindfolded.  I  should  say, 
however,  that  no  reliance  was  placed  on,  or  care  taken  in, 
the  bandaging.  It  was  merely  done  because  the  percipient 
preferred  it  to  merely  shutting  the  eyes.  After  remarkable 
experiments  on  blindfolding  by  members  of  the  Society  (see 
Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  i.,  p.  84),  I  certainly  would  not  rely 
on  any  ordinary  bandaging;  the  opacity  of  the  wooden  screen 
on  which  the  object  was  placed  was  the  thing  really  depended 
on,  and  it  was  noticed  that  no  mirrors  or  indistinct  reflectors 
were  present.  The  only  surface  at  all  suspicious  was  the 
polished  top  of  the  small  table  on  which  the  opaque  screen 
usually  stood.  But  as  the  screen  sloped  backwards  at  a 
slight  angle,  it  was  impossible  for  the  object  on  it  to  be  thus 
mirrored.  Moreover,  sometimes  I  covered  the  table  with 
paper,  and  often  it  was  not  used  at  all,  but  the  object  was 
placed  on  a  screen  or  a  settee  behind  the  percipient;  and  one 
striking  success  was  obtained  with  the  object  placed  on  a 
large  drawing  board,  loosely  swathed  in  a  black  silk  college 
gown,  with  the  percipient  immediately  behind  the  said  draw- 
ing board  and  almost  hidden  by  it. 

As  regards  collusion  and  trickery,  no  one  who  has  wit- 
nessed the  absolutely  genuine  and  artless  manner  in  which 
the  impressions  are  described,  but  has  been  perfectly  con- 
vinced of  the  transparent  honesty  of  purpose  of  all  con- 
cerned. This,  however,  is  not  evidence  to  persons  who  have 
not  been  present,  and  to  them  I  can  only  say  that  to  the  best 
of  my  scientific  belief  no  collusion  or  trickery  was  possible 
under  the  varied  circumstances  of  the  experiments. 

A  very  interesting  question  presents  itself  as  to  what  is 
really  transmitted,  whether  it  is  the  idea  or  name  of  the 
object  or  whether  it  is  the  visual  impression.  To  examine 
this  I  frequently  drew  things  without  any  name  —  perfectly 
irregular  drawings.  I  am  bound  to  say  that  these  irregular 


48  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

and  unnamable  productions  have  always  been  rather  diffi- 
cult, though  they  have  at  times  been  imitated  fairly  well; 
but  it  is  not  at  all  strange  that  a  faint  impression  of  an  un- 
known object  should  be  harder  to  grasp  and  reproduce  than  a 
faint  impression  of  a  familiar  one,  such  as  a  letter,  a  common 
name,  a  teapot,  or  a  pair  of  scissors.  Moreover,  in  some 
very  interesting  cases  the  idea  or  name  of  the  object  was  cer- 
tainly the  thing  transferred,  and  not  the  visual  impression  at 
all;  this  specially  happened  with  one  of  the  two  percipients; 
and,  therefore,  probably  in  every  case  the  fact  of  the  object 
having  a  name  would  assist  any  faint  impression  of  its  ap- 
pearance which  might  be  received. 

As  to  aspect,  i.e.,  inversion  or  perversion, —  so  far  as  my 
experience  goes  it  seems  perfectly  accidental  whether  the  ob- 
ject will  be  drawn  by  the  percipient  in  its  actual  position  or 
in  the  inverted  or  perverted  position.  This  is  very  curious 
if  true,  and  would  certainly  not  have  been  expected  by  me. 
Horizontal  objects  are  never  described  as  vertical,  nor  vice 
versa]  and  slanting  objects  are  usually  drawn  with  the  right 
amount  of  slant. 

The  two  percipients  are  Miss  R.  and  Miss  E.  Miss  R. 
is  the  more  prosaic,  staid,  and  self-contained  personage,  and 
she  it  is  who  gets  the  best  quasi-visual  impression,  but  she  is 
a  bad  drawer,  and  does  not  reproduce  it  very  well.  Miss 
E.  is,  I  should  judge,  of  a  more  sensitive  temperament,  sel- 
dom being  able  to  preserve  a  strict  silence  for  instance,  and 
she  it  is  who  more  frequently  jumps  to  the  idea  or  name 
of  the  object  without  being  able  so  frequently  to  "  see  "  it. 

I  was  anxious  to  try  both  percipients  at  once,  so  as  to  com- 
pare their  impressions,  but  I  have  not  met  with  much  suc- 
cess under  these  conditions,  and  usually  therefore  have  had 
to  try  one  at  a  time  —  the  other  being  frequently  absent  or 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  49 

in  another  room,  though  also  frequently  present  and  acting 
as  part  or  sole  agent. 

I  once  tried  a  double  agent  —  that  is,  not  two  agents 
thinking  of  the  same  thing,  but  two  agents  each  thinking 
of  a  different  thing.  A  mixed  and  curiously  double  impres- 
sion was  thus  produced  and  described  by  the  percipient,  and 
both  the  objects  were  correctly  drawn.  This  experiment  has 
been  separately  described,  as  it  is  important.  See  pages  41 
and  51. 

[N.B. —  The  actual  drawings  made  in  all  the  experiments, 

failures  and  successes  alike,  are  preserved  intact  by 

Mr.  Guthrie.] 


In  order  to  describe  the  experiments  briefly  I  will  put  in 
parentheses  everything  said  by  me  or  by  the  agent,  and  in  in- 
verted commas  all  the  remarks  of  the  percipient.  The  first 
seven  experiments  are  all  that  were  made  on  one  evening  with 
the  particular  percipient,  and  they  were  rapidly  performed. 

A.— EXPERIMENTS  WITH  MISS  R.  AS  PERCIPIENT 

First  Agent,  Mr.  Birchall,  holding  hands.     No  one  else  present 
except  myself 

Object — a  blue  square  of  silk. — (Now,  it's  going  to  be  a  colour; 
ready.)  "Is.it  green?"  (No.)  "It's  something  between  green 
and  blue.  .  .  .  Peacock."  (What  shape?)  She  drew  a  rhom- 
bus. 

[N.  B. — It  is  not  intended  to  imply  that  this  was  a  success  by  any 
means,  and  it  is  to  be  understood  that  it  was  only  to  make  a  start  on 
the  first  experiment  that  so  much  help  was  given  as  is  involved  in 
saying  "  it's  a  colour."  When  they  are  simply  told  "  it's  an  object," 
or,  what  is  much  the  same,  when  nothing  is  said  at  all,  the  field  for 


50  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

guessing  is  practically  infinite.  When  no  remark  at  starting  is  re- 
corded none  was  made,  except  such  an  one  as  "  Now  we  are  ready," 
—  by  myself.] 

Next  object — a  key  on  a  black  ground. — (It's  an  object.)  In  a 
few  seconds  she  said,  "  It's  bright.  ...  It  looks  like  a  key." 
Told  to  draw,  she  drew  it  just  inverted. 

Next  object  —  three  gold  studs  in  morocco  case. — "Is  it  yellow? 
.  .  .  Something  gold.  .  .  .  Something  round.  ...  A 
locket  or  a  watch  perhaps."  (Do  you  see  more  than  one  round?) 
"Yes,  there  seem  to  be  more  than  one.  .  .  .  Are  there  three 
rounds?  .  .  .  Three  rings."  (What  do  they  seem  to  be  set  in?) 
"  Something  bright  like  beads."  [Evidently  not  understanding  or  at- 
tending to  the  question.]  Told  to  unblindfold  herself  and  draw,  she 
drew  the  three  rounds  in  a  row  quite  correctly,  and  then  sketched 
round  them  absently  the  outline  of  the  case ;  which  seemed,  therefore, 
to  have  been  apparent  to  her  though  she  had  not  consciously  attended 
to  it.  It  was  an  interesting  and  striking  experiment. 

Next  object  —  a  pair  of  scissors  standing  partly  open  with  their 
points  down. — "  Is  it  a  bright  object?  .  .  .  Something  long  ways 
[indicating  verticality].  ...  A  pair  of  scissors  standing  up. 
.  .  .  A  little  bit  open."  Time,  about  a  minute  altogether.  She 
then  drew  her  impression,  and  it  was  correct  in  every  particular.  The 
object  in  this  experiment  was  on  a  settee  behind  her,  but  its  position 
had  to  be  pointed  out  to  her  when,  after  the  experiment,  she  wanted 
to  see  it. 

Next  object  —  a  drawing  of  a  right-angled  triangle  on  its  side. — 
(It's  a  drawing.)  She  drew  an  isosceles  triangle  on  its  side. 

Next  —  a  circle  with  a  chord  across  it. —  She  drew  two  detached 
ovals,  one  with  a  cutting  line  across  it. 

Next  —  a  drawing  of  a  Union  Jack  pattern. —  As  usual  in  drawing 


ORIGINAL.  REPRODUCTION. 

experiments,  Miss  R.  remained  silent  for  perhaps  a  minute;  then  she 
said,  "Now  I  am  ready."     I  hid  the  object;  she  took  off  the  hand- 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  51 

kerchief,  and  proceeded  to  draw  on  paper  placed  ready  in  front  of  her. 
She  this  time  drew  all  the  lines  of  the  figure  except  the  horizontal 
middle  one.  She  was  obviously  much  tempted  to  draw  this,  and, 
indeed,  began  it  two  or  three  times  faintly,  but  ultimately  said,  "  No, 
I'm  not  sure,"  and  stopped. 

[END  OF  SITTING] 

Experiment's  with  Miss  R. —  continued 

I  will  now  describe  an  experiment  indicating  that  one  agent  may 
be  better  than  another. 

Object  —  the  Three  of  Hearts. —  Miss  E.  and  Mr.  Birchall  both 
present  as  agents,  but  Mr.  Birchall  holding  percipient's  hands  at  first. 
"  Is  it  a  black  cross  ...  a  white  ground  with  a  black  cross  on 
it?"  Mr.  Birchall  now  let  Miss  E.  hold  hands  instead  of  himself, 
and  Miss  R.  very  soon  said,  "  Is  it  a  card?  "  (Right.)  "  Are  there 
three  spots  on  it?  .  .  .  Don't  know  what  they  are.  ...  I 
don't  think  I  can  get  the  colour.  .  .  .  They  are  one  above  the 
other,  but  they  seem  three  round  spots.  ...  I  think  they're  red, 
but  am  not  clear." 

Next  object  —  a  playing  card  with  a  blue  anchor  painted  on  it 
slantwise,  instead  of  pips.  No  contact  at  all  this  time,  but  another 

lady,  Miss  R d,  who  had  entered  the  room,  assisted  Mr.  B.  and 

Misis  E.  as  agents.  "Is  it  an  anchor?  ...  a  little  on  the 
slant."  (Do  you  see  any  colour?)  "Colour  is  black  .  .  .  It's 
a  nicely  drawn  anchor."  When  asked  to  draw  she  sketched  part  of 
it,  but  had  evidently  half  forgotten  it,  and  not  knowing  the  use  of 
the  cross  arm,  she  could  only  indicate  that  there  was  something  more 
there,  but  she  couldn't  remember  what.  Her  drawing  had  the  right 
slant. 

Another  object  —  two  pair  of  coarse  lines  crossing;  drawn  in  red 
chalk,  and  set  up  at  some  distance  from  agents.  No  contact.  "  I  only 
see  lines  crossing."  She  saw  no  colour.  She  afterwards  drew  them 
quite  correctly,  but  very  small.  [It  was  noticeable  that  the  unusual 
distance  at  which  the  drawing  was  placed  from  the  agent  on  this 
occasion  seemed  to  be  interpreted  by  the  percipient  as  smallness  of 
size.] 


52  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

Double  object. —  It  was  now  that  I  arranged  the  double  object 

between  Miss  R d  and  Miss  E.,  who  happened  to  be  sitting  nearly 

facing  one  another.  [See  Nature,  June  I2th,  1884,  for  the  published 
report  of  this  particular  incident  which  has  been  reproduced  above.] 
The  drawing  was  a  square  on  one  side  of  the  paper,  a  cross  on  the 
other.  Miss  R d  looked  at  the  side  with  the  square  on  it.  Miss 


X 


ORIGINAL.  REPRODUCTION. 

E.  looked  at  the  side  with  the  cross.  Neither  knew  what  the  other 
was  looking  at  —  nor  did  the  percipient  know  that  anything  unusual 
was  being  tried.  Mr.  Birchall  was  silently  asked  to  take  off  his 
attention,  and  he  got  up  and  looked  out  of  window  before  the  draw- 
ings were  brought  in,  and  during  the  experiment.  There  was  no 
contact.  Very  soon  Miss  R.  said,  "  I  see  things  moving  about 
.  .  .  I  seem  to  see  two  things  .  .  .  I  see  first  one  up  there 
and  then  one  down  there  ...  I  don't  know  which  to  draw. 
.  .  .  I  can't  see  either  distinctly."  (Well  anyhow,  draw  what 
you  have  seen.)  She  took  off  the  bandage  and  drew  first  a  square, 
and  then  said,  "  Then  there  was  the  other  thing  as  well  .  .  . 
afterwards  they  seemed  to  go  into  one,"  and  she  drew  a  cross  inside 
the  square  from  corner  to  corner,  adding  afterwards,  "  I  don't  know 
what  made  me  put  it  inside." 

The  next  is  a  case  of  a  perfect  stranger  acting  as  agent  by  himself 
at  the  first  trial.  Dr.  Shears,  house  physician  at  the  Eye  and  Ear 
Infirmary,  came  down  to  see  the  phenomena,  and  Miss  R.  having 
arrived  before  the  others,  Mr.  Guthrie  proposed  his  trying  as  agent 
alone.  Dr.  Shears,  therefore,  held  Miss  R.'s  hand  while  I  set  up  in 
front  of  him  a  card :  nothing  whatever  being  said  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  object. 

Object  —  the  five  of  clubs,  at  first  on  white  ground.  "  Is  it  some- 
thing bright?"  (No  answer,  but  I  changed  the  object  to  a  black 
ground  where  it  was  more  conspicuous.)  "A  lot  of  black  with  a 
white  square  on  it "  (Goon.)  "Is  it  a  card?"  (Yes.)  [The 
affirmative  answer  did  not  necessarily  signify  that  it  was  a  playing 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS 


53 


card,  because  cards  looking  like  playing  cards  had  been  used  several 
times  previously,  on  which  objects  had  been  depicted  instead  of  pips.] 
"Are  there  five  spots  on  it?"  (Yes.)  "Black  ones."  (Right.) 
"  I  can't  see  the  suit,  but  I  think  it's  spades." 

Another  object  at  same  sitting,  but  with  several  agents,  no  contact, 
was  a  drawing  of  this  form  — 
A 

A    A 


ORIGINAL. 


REPRODUCTION. 


"  I  can  see  something,  but  I  am  sure  I  can't  draw  it.  ...  It's 
something  with  points  all  round  it.  ...  It's  a  star,  ...  or 
like  a  triangle  within  a  triangle."  Asked  to  draw  it,  she  expressed 
reluctance,  said  it  was  too  difficult,  and  drew  part  of  a  star  figure, 
evidently  a  crude  reproduction  of  the  originial,  but  incomplete.  She 
then  began  afresh  by  drawing  a  triangle,  but  was  unable  to  proceed. 

I  then  showed  her  the  object  for  a  few  seconds.  She  exclaimed, 
"Oh  yes,  that's  what  I  saw.  ...  I  understand  it  now."  I 
said,  "  Well  now  draw  it."  She  made  a  more  complete  attempt,  but 
it  was  no  more  really  like  the  original  than  the  first  had  been.  Here 
it  is: 


SKETCH   MADE  AFTER  SEEING  THE  ORIGINAL. 

Experiments  at  a  sitting  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Herdman,  Professor  of 
Zoology  at   University   College. 

Object  —  a  drawing  of  the  outline  of  a  flag. —  Miss  R.  as  percip- 
ient in  contact  with  Miss  E.  as  agent.     Very  quickly  Miss  R.  said, 


ORIGINAL. 


REPRODUCTION. 


54  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

"  It's  a  little  flag,"  and  when  asked  to  draw,  she  drew  it  fairly  well, 
but  "  perverted  "  as  depicted  in  the  figure.  I  showed  her  the  flag 
(as  usual  after  a  success),  and  then  took  it  away  to  the  drawing 
place  to  fetch  something  else.  I  made  another  drawing,  but  instead 
of  bringing  it  I  brought  the  flag  back  again,  and  set  it  up  in  the 
same  place  as  before,  but  upside  down.  There  was  no  contact  this 

time.     Miss  R d  and  Miss  E.  were  acting  as  agents. 

Object  —  same  flag  inverted. —  After  some  time,  Miss  R.  said, 
"  No,  I  can't  see  anything  this  time.  I  still  see  that  flag.  .  .  . 
The  flag  keeps  bothering  me.  ...  I  shan't  do  it  this  time." 
Presently  I  said,  "  Well,  draw  what  you  saw  anyway."  She  said, 
"  I  only  saw  the  same  flag,  but  perhaps  it  had  a  cross  on  it."  So  she 
drew  a  flag  in  the  same  position  as  before,  but  added  a  cross  to  it. 
Questioned  as  to  aspect  she  said,  "  Yes,  it  was  just  the  same  as  be- 
fore." 


Object  —  an  oval  gold  locket  hanging  by  a  bit  of  string  with  a  lit- 
tle price  label  attached. —  Placed  like  the  former  object  on  a  large 
drawing  board,  swathed  in  a  college  gown.  The  percipient,  Miss 
R.,  close  behind  the  said  board  and  almost  hidden  by  it.  Agents, 

Miss  R d  and  Miss  E.  sitting  in  front;  no  contact;  nothing  said. 

"  I  see  something  gold,  .  .  .  something  hanging,  .  .  .  like 
a  gold  locket."  (What  shape?)  "It's  oval,"  indicating  with  her 
fingers  correctly.  (Very  good  so  far,  tell  us  something  more)  — 
[meaning  ticket  at  top].  But  no  more  was  said.  When  shown  the 
object  she  said,  "  Oh  yes,  it  was  just  like  that,"  but  she  had  seen 
nothing  of  the  little  paper  ticket. 

Next  object  —  a  watch  and  chain  pinned  up  to  the  board  as  on  a 
waistcoat. —  This  experiment  was  a  failure,  and  is  only  interesting 
because  the  watch-ticking  sounded  abnormally  loud,  sufficient  to  give 
any  amount  of  hint  to  a  person  on  the  look  out  for  such  sense 
indications.  But  it  is  very  evident  to  those  witnessing  the  experi- 
ments that  the  percipient  is  in  a  quite  different  attitude  )f  mind  to 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  55 

that  of  a  clever  guesser,  and  ordinary  sense  indications  seem  wholly 
neglected.  I  scarcely  expected,  however,  that  the  watch-ticking  could 
pass  unnoticed,  though  indeed  we  shuffled  our  feet  to  drown  it  some- 
what, but  so  it  was ;  and  all  we  got  was  "  something  bright  .  .  . 
either  steel  or  silver.  .  .  .  Is  it  anything  like  a  pair  of  scissors?  " 
(Not  a  bit.) 

I  have  now  done  with  the  selection  of  experiments  in  which  Miss 
R.  acted  as  percipient;  and  I  will  describe  some  of  those  made  with 
Miss  E.  At  the  time  these  seemed  perhaps  less  satisfactory  and 
complete,  but  there  are  several  points  of  considerable  interest  notice- 
able in  connection  with  them. 

B.— EXPERIMENTS  WITH  MISS  E.  AS  PERCIPIENT 

Object  —  an  oblong  piece  of  red  (cerise)  silk.  Agent,  Mr.  B.,  in 
contact.— "Red."  (What  sort  of  red?)  "A  dark  red."  (What 
shape?)  "One  patch."  (Well,  what  shade  is  it?)  "Not  a  pale 
red." 

Next  object  —  a  yellow  oblong.  Agent  as  before. —  "A  dusky 
gold  colour.  ...  A  square  of  some  yellow  shade." 

Object  —  the  printed  letter  r.  Told  it  was  a  letter ;  agent  as  be- 
fore.—  "  I  can  see  R."  (What  sort  of  R?)  "An  ordinary  capi- 
tal R." 

This  illustrates  feebly  what  often,  though  not  always,  happens  with 
Miss  E. —  that  the  idea  of  the  object  is  grasped  rather  than  its  actual 
shape. 

Another  object  —  a  small  printed  e. —  "  Is  it  E?"  (Yes.)  But, 
again,  she  couldn't  tell  what  sort  of  E  it  was. 

Object  —  a  teapot  cut  out  of  silver  paper. —  Present  —  Dr.  Herd- 


ORIGINAL.  REPRODUCTION. 

man,  Miss  R d,  and  Miss  R.,  Miss  R.  holding  percipient's  hands, 

but  all  thinking  of  the  object.  Told  nothing.  She  said,  "  Some- 
thing light.  ...  No  colour.  .  .  .  Looks  like  a  duck. 
.  .  .  Like  a  silver  duck.  .  .  .  Something  oval.  .  . 


56  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

Head  at  one  end  and  tail  at  the  other."  [This  is  not  uncommon  in 
ducks.]  The  object,  being  rather  large,  was  then  moved  farther 
back,  so  that  it  might  be  more  easily  grasped  by  the  agents  as  a  whole, 
but  percipient  persisted  that  it  was  like  a  duck.  On  being  told  to 
unbandage  and  draw,  she  drew  a  rude  and  "  perverted  "  copy  of  the 
teapot,  but  didn't  know  what  it  was  unless  it  was  a  duck.  Dr. 
Herdman  then  explained  that  he  had  been  thinking  all  the  time  how 
like  a  duck  the  original  teapot  was,  and,  in  fact,  had  been  thinking 
more  of  ducks  than  teapots. 

Next  object  —  a  hand  mirror  brought  In  and  set  up  in  front  of 

Miss  R d. —  No  contact  at  first.  Told  nothing.  She  said,  "  Is 

it  a  colour?"  (No.)  "No,  I  don't  see  anything."  The  glass  was 
then  shifted  to  Miss  R.  to  look  at  herself  in  it,  holding  percipient's 
hand.  "  No  I  don't  get  this."  Gave  it  up.  I  then  hid  the  mirror 
in  my  coat,  and  took  it  out  of  the  room.  Dr.  Herdman  reports  that 
while  I  was  away  Miss  E.  begged  to  know  what  the  object  had  been, 
but  the  agents  refused,  saying  that  I  had  evidently  wished  to  keep 
it  secret.  Half  annoyed,  Miss  E.  said,  "  Oh,  well,  it  doesn't  mat- 
ter. I  believe  it  was  a  looking-glass." 

Next  object  —  a  drawing  of  a  right-angled  triangle.  No  contact. 
—  "Is  it  like  that?"  drawing  a  triangle  with  her  finger  (no  an- 
swer). "It's  almost  like  a  triangle."  She  then  drew  an  isosceles 
triangle. 

Next  object  —  a  drawing  of  two  parallel  but  curved  lines.  No 
contact. — "  I  only  see  two  lines,"  indicating  two  parallel  lines. 
"  Now  they  seem  to  close  up." 

Next  object  —  a  tetrahedron  outline  rudely  drawn  in  projection. 


—  "Is  it  another  triangle?"  (No  answer  was  made,  but  I  silently 
passed  round  to  the  agents  a  scribbled  message,  "  Think  of  a  pyra- 
mid.") Miss  E.  then  said,  "  I  only  see  a  triangle."  .  .  .  then 
hastily,  "  Pyramids  of  Egypt.  No,  I  shan't  do  this."  Asked  to 
draw,  she  only  drew  a  triangle. 


SOME  EXPERIMENTS  57 

Object  —  a  rude  outline  of  a  donkey  or  other  quadruped. —  Still 
no  contact  at  first.  "  Can't  get  it,  I  am  sure."  I  then  asked  the 
agents  to  leave  the  room,  and  to  come  in  and  try  one  by  one.  First 

Miss  R d,  without  contact,  and  then  with.     Next  Miss  R.,  in 

contact,  when  Miss  E.  said  hopelessly,  "  An  old  woman  in  a  poke 
bonnet."  Finally  I  tried  as  agent  alone,  and  Miss  E.  said,  "  It's  like 
a  donkey,  but  I  can't  see  it,  nor  can  I  draw  it." 

GENERAL  STATEMENTS  ABOUT  THE  EXPERIMENTS 

In  addition  to  the  experiments  without  single  percipients,  I 
tried  a  few  with  both  percipients  sitting  together  —  hoping 
to  learn  something  by  comparing  their  different  perceptions 
of  the  same  object.  But  unfortunately  these  experiments 
were  not  very  successful;  sometimes  they  each  appeared  to 
get  different  aspects  or  the  parts  of  object,  but  never  very 
distinct  or  perfect  impressions.  The  necessity  of  imposing 
silence  on  the  percipients,  as  well  as  on  the  agents,  was  also 
rather  irksome,  and  renders  the  result  less  describable  with- 
out the  actual  drawings.  I  still  think  that  this  variation 
might  convey  something  interesting  if  pursued  under  favour- 
able circumstances.  Whether  greater  agent-power  is  neces- 
sary to  affect  two  percipients  as  strongly  as  one ;  or  whether 
the  blankness  of  mind  of  one  percipient  re-acts  on  the  other, 
I  cannot  say. 

With  regard  to  the  feelings  of  the  percipients  when  re- 
ceiving an  impression,  they  seem  to  have  some  sort  of  con- 
sciousness of  the  action  of  other  minds  on  them;  and  once 
or  twice,  when  not  so  conscious,  have  complained  that  there 
seemed  to  be  no  "  power  "  or  anything  acting,  and  that  they 
not  only  received  no  impression,  but  did  not  feel  as  if  they 
were  going  to. 

I  asked  Miss  E.  what  she  felt  when  impressions  were.com- 


58  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

ing  freely,  and  she  said  she  felt  a  sort  of  influence  or  thrill. 
They  both  say  that  several  images  appear  to  them  sometimes, 
but  that  one  among  them  persistently  recurs,  and  they  have  a 
feeling  when  they  fix  upon  one  that  it  is  the  right  one. 

Sometimes  they  seem  quite  certain  that  they  are  right. 
Sometimes  they  are  very  uncertain,  but  still  right.  Occa- 
sionally Miss  E.  has  been  pretty  confident  and  yet  wrong. 

One  serious  failure  rather  depresses  them,  and  after  a 
success  others  often  follow.  It  is  because  of  these  rather 
delicate  psychological  conditions  that  one  cannot  press  the 
variations  of  an  experiment  as  far  as  one  would  do  if  deal- 
ing with  inert  and  more  dependable  matter.  Uusually  the 
presence  of  a  stranger  spoils  the  phenomenon,  though  in  some 
cases  a  stranger  has  proved  a  good  agent  straight  off. 

The  percipients  complain  of  no  fatigue  as  induced  by  the 
experiments,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  harm 
is  done  them.  The  agent,  on  the  other  hand,  if  very  ener- 
getic, is  liable  to  contract  a  headache;  and  Mr.  Guthrie 
himself,  who  was  a  powerful  and  determined  agent  for  a 
long  time,  now  feels  it  wiser  to  refrain  from  acting,  and  con- 
ducts the  experiments  with  great  moderation. 

If  experiments  are  only  conducted  for  an  hour  or  so  a 
week,  no  harm  can,  I  should  judge,  result,  and  it  would  be 
very  interesting  to  know  what  percentage  of  people  have  the 
perceptive  faculty  well  developed. 

The  experiments  are  easy  to  try,  but  they  should  be  tried 
soberly  and  quietly,  like  any  other  experiment.  A  public 
platform  is  a  most  unsuitable  place ;  and  nothing  tried  before 
a  mixed  or  jovial  audience  can  be  of  the  slightest  scientific 
value.  Such  demonstrations  may  be  efficient  in  putting 
money  into  the  pockets  of  showmen,  or  in  amusing  one's 
friends;  but  all  real  evidence  must  be  obtained  in  the  quiet 
of  the  laboratory  or  the  study. 


CHAPTER   IV 

FURTHER  EXPERIMENTS  IN  TELEPATHY 

THE  next  experience  of  any  importance  which  I  had 
in  this  kind  of  experimental  telepathy  took  place 
during  a  visit  to  the  Austrian  province  beyond  Tyrol 
with  some  English  friends  during  the  summer  of  1892,  and 
is  thus  described  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  vol.  vii.  page  374. 

While  staying  for  a  fortnight  in  the  house  of  Herr  von 
Lyro,  at  Portschach  am  See,  Carinthia,  I  found  that  his 
two  adult  daughters  were  adepts  in  the  so-called  "  willing- 
game,"  and  were  accustomed  to  entertain  their  friends  by 
the  speed  and  certainty  with  which  they  could  perform  ac- 
tions decided  on  by  the  company;  the  operator  being  led 
either  by  one  or  by  two  others,  and  preferring  to  be  led  by 
someone  to  whom  she  was  accustomed.  Another  lady  stay- 
ing in  the  house  was  said  to  be  able  to  do  things  equally  well, 
but  not  without  nervous  prostration. 

On  the  evening  when  I  witnessed  the  occurrences  nothing 
done  could  be  regarded  as  conclusive  against  muscle-reading, 
though  the  speed  and  accuracy  with  which  the  willed  action 
was  performed  exceeded  any  muscle-reading  that  I  had  pre- 
viously seen,  and  left  me  little  doubt  but  that  there  was  some 
genuine  thought-transference  power. 

Accordingly  I  obtained  permission  to  experiment  in  a  more 
satisfactory  manner,  and  on  several  occasions  tested  the 
power  of  the  two  sisters,  using  one  as  agent  and  the  other  as 

59 


60  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

percipient  alternately.     Once  or  twice  a  stranger  was  asked 
to  act  as  agent,  but  without  success. 

The  operations  were  conducted  in  an  ordinary  simple 
manner.  One  of  the  sisters  was  placed  behind  a  drawing 
board,  erected  by  me  on  a  temporary  sort  of  easel,  while 
the  other  sat  in  front  of  the  same  board;  and  the  objects  or 
drawings  to  be  guessed  were  placed  on  a  ledge  in  front  of 
the  board,  since  we  know  that  it  is  unsafe  to  put  any  trust 
in  bandaging  of  eyes  (Journal,  I,  84),  in  full  view  of  the 
one  and  completely  hidden  from  the  other. 

Naturally  I  attended  to  the  absence  of  mirrors  and  all 
such  obvious  physical  complications.  The  percipient  pre- 
ferred to  be  blindfolded,  but  no  precaution  was  taken  with 
reference  to  this  blindfolding.  Agent  and  percipient  were 
within  reach  of  one  another,  and  usually  held  each  other's 
hands  across  a  small  table.  The  kind  and  amount  of  con- 
tact was  under  control,  and  was  sometimes  broken  altogether, 
as  is  subsequently  related. 

The  ladies  were  interested  in  the  subject,  and  were  per- 
fectly willing  to  try  any  change  of  conditions  that  I  suggested, 
and  my  hope  was  gradually  to  secure  the  phenomenon  with- 
out contact  of  any  kind,  as  I  had  done  in  the  previous  case 
reported;  but  unfortunately  in  the  present  instance  contact 
seemed  essential  to  the  transfer.  Very  slight  contact  was 
sufficient,  for  instance  through  the  backs  of  the  knuckles ;  but 
directly  the  hands  were  separated,  even  though  but  a  quarter 
of  an  inch,  the  phenomena  ceased, —  reappearing  again  di- 
rectly contact  was  established.  I  tried  whether  I  could 
bridge  over  the  gap  effectively  with  my  own,  or  another 
lady's  hand;  but  that  did  not  do.  I  also  once  tried  both 
sisters  blindfolded,  and  holding  each  other  by  one  hand, 
while  two  other  persons  completed  the  chain  and  tried  to  act 
as  agents.  After  a  time  the  sisters  were  asked  to  draw, 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  61 

simultaneously  and  independently,  what  they  had  "seen"; 
but  though  the  two  drawings  were  close  imitations  of  each 
other,  they  in  this  case  bore  no  likeness  to  the  object  on 
which  the  agents  had  been  gazing.  My  impression,  there- 
fore, is  that  there  is  some  kind  of  close  sympathetic  connec- 
tion between  the  sisters,  so  that  an  idea  may,  as  it  were, 
reverberate  between  their  minds  when  their  hands  touch, 
but  that  they  are  only  faintly,  if  at  all,  susceptible  to  the  in- 
fluence of  outside  persons. 

Whether  the  importance  of  contact  in  this  case  depends 
upon  the  fact  that  it  is  the  condition  to  which  they  have 
always  been  accustomed,  or  whether  it  is  a  really  effective 
aid,  I  am  not  sure. 

So  far  as  my  own  observation  went,  it  was  interesting  and 
new  to  me  to  see  how  clearly  the  effect  seemed  to  depend 
on  contact,  and  how  abruptly  it  ceased  when  contact  was 
broken.  While  guessing  through  a  pack  of  cards,  for  In- 
stance, rapidly  and  continuously,  I  sometimes  allowed  contact 
and  sometimes  stopped  it;  and  the  guesses  changed,  from 
frequently  correct  to  quite  wild,  directly  the  knuckles  or  finger 
tips,  or  any  part  of  the  skin  of  the  two  hands,  ceased  to 
touch.  It  was  almost  like  breaking  an  electric  circuit.  At 
the  same  time,  partial  contact  seemed  less  effective  than  a 
thorough  hand  grasp. 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  how  strongly  this  dependence  on 
contact  suggests  the  idea  of  a  code;  and  I  have  to  admit  at 
once  that  this  flaw  prevents  this  series  of  observations  from 
having  any  value  as  a  test  case,  or  as  establishing  de  novo 
the  existence  of  the  genuine  power.  My  record  only  appeals 
to  those  who,  on  other  grounds,  have  accepted  the  general 
possibility  of  thought-transference,  and  who,  therefore,  need 
not  feel  unduly  strained  when  asked  to  credit  my  assertion 
that  unfair  practices  were  extremely  unlikely;  and  that,  apart 


62  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

from  this  moral  conviction,  there  was  a  sufficient  amount  of 
internal  evidence  derived  from  the  facts  themselves  to  satisfy 
me  that  no  code  was  used.  The  internal  evidence  of  which 
I  am  thinking  was :  ( I )  the  occasionally  successful  reproduc- 
tion of  nameless  drawings;  (2)  the  occasional  failure  to  get 
any  clue  to  an  object  or  drawing  with  a  perfectly  simple  and 
easily  telegraphed  name;  (3)  the  speed  with  which  the 
guesses  were  often  made. 

I  wish,  however,  distinctly  to  say  that  none  of  the  evidence 
which  I  can  offer  against  a  prearranged  code  is  scientifically 
and  impersonally  conclusive,  nor  could  it  be  accepted  as  of 
sufficient  weight  by  a  sceptic  on  the  whole  subject.  It  is 
only  because,  with  full  opportunity  of  forming  a  judgment, 
and  in  the  light  of  my  former  experience,  I  am  myself  satis- 
fied that  what  I  observed  was  an  instance  of  genuine  sympa- 
thetic or  syntonic  communication,  and  because  such  cases 
seem  at  the  present  time  to  be  rather  rare,  that  I  make  this 
brief  report  on  the  circumstances. 

I  detected  no  well-marked  difference  between  the  powers 
of  the  two  sisters,  and  it  will  be  understood  that  one  of  them 
was  acting  as  agent  and  the  other  as  percipient  in  each  case. 
Sometimes  the  parents  of  the  girls  were  present,  but 
often  only  one  or  two  friends  of  my  own,  who  were  good 
enough  to  invite  the  young  ladies  to  their  sitting-room  for 
the  purpose  of  experiment;  though  such  experiments  are, 
when  carefully  performed,  confessedly  rather  tedious  and 
dull. 

In  the  early  willing-game  experiments,  such  things  were 
done  as  taking  a  particular  ring  from  one  person's  hand  and 
putting  it  on  another's;  selecting  a  definite  piece  of  music 
from  a  pile,  taking  it  to  the  piano,  and  beginning  to  play  it. 
The  last  item  (the  beginning  to  play)  I  did  not  happen  to 
witness,  but  I  was  told  of  it  by  several  persons  as  more  than 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  63 

could  be  accounted  for  by  muscle-reading.  A  sceptic,  how- 
ever, could  of  course  object  that  imperfect  bandaging  would 
enable  a  title  to  be  read. 

One  of  the  things  that  I  suggested  was  aimed  at  excluding 
the  operation  of  unconscious  muscular  guidance  as  far  as 
possible,  and  it  consisted  in  desiring  that  the  lady  while 
standing  in  the  middle  of  the  room  should  kick  off  her  shoes 
without  touching  them  and  begin  to  sing  a  specified  song. 
Success,  however,  was  only  partial.  After  one  or  two  at- 
tempts to  wander  about  the  room  as  usual,  she  did  shuffle  a 
shoe  off,  but  though  she  did  not  actually  touch  her  feet  she 
stooped  so  that  the  held  hand  came  very  near  them.  She 
then  stood  some  little  time  uncertain  what  to  do  next,  and 
at  last  broke  silence  by  saying  "  Shall  I  sing?  " 

The  first  attempt  at  the  more  careful  experiments  was  not 
at  all  successful,  but  novelty  of  conditions  may  fairly  be 
held  responsible  for  that.  On  the  second  and  subsequent 
evenings  success  was  much  more  frequent:  on  the  whole,  I 
think,  more  frequent  than  failure, —  certainly  far  beyond 
chance.  I  proceed  to  give  a  fairly  complete  account  of  the 
whole  series. 

The  first  object  was  a  teapot;  but  there  was  no  result. 

The  first  drawing  was  the  outline  of  a  box  with  a  flag  at  one  cor- 
ner; but  that  produced  no  impression. 

Next,  for  simplicity,  I  explained  that  the  object  this  time  was  a 
letter  (Buchstabe},  on  which  it  was  correctly  guessed  E.  Another 
letter,  M,  was  given  quite  wrong.  A  childish  back-view  outline  of  a 
cat  was  given  oval  like  an  egg;  some  other  things  were  unperceived. 

On  the  second  evening  I  began  by  saying  that  the  object  was  a 
colour;  on  which  red  was  instantly  and  correctly  stated. 

A  blue  object  which  followed  was  guessed  wrong. 

An  outline  figure  of  a  horse  was  correctly  named.  So  was  the 
letter  B.  I  then  drew  a  square  with  a  diagonal  cross  in  it  and  a 


64  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

round  ring  or  spot  just  above  the  cross,  the  whole  looking  something 
like  the  back  of  an  envelope.  After  a  certain  interval  of  silence 
(perhaps  two  minutes)  the  lady  said  she  was  ready  to  draw  what 
she  had  "  seen,"  and  drew  the  thing  almost  exactly,  except  that  the 
spot  was  put  right  on  the  centre  of  the  cross  instead  of  above  it,  and 
a  superfluous  faint  vertical  stroke  was  added.  Its  possible  resem- 
blance to  an  envelope  was  not  detected,  nor  did  the  reproduction 
suggest  the  idea :  it  was  drawn  as,  and  looked  like,  a  nameless  geomet- 
rical figure. 

The  reproductions  were  nearly  always  much  smaller  in  size  than 
the  originals.  The  agent  did  not  look  on  while  the  reproduction 
was  being  made.  It  is  best  for  no  one  to  look  on  while  the  percipient 
draws,  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  unconscious  indications.  The  orig- 
inal drawings  were  always  made  by  me,  sometimes  before,  sometimes 
during  the  sitting.  These  conditions  were  all  satisfactory. 

On  the  third  evening  I  began  with  a  pack  of  cards,  running 
through  them  quickly;  with  2  reporters,  one  recording  the  card  held 
up,  the  other  recording  the  guess  made,  without  knowing  whether  it 
was  right  or  wrong.  I  held  up  the  cards  one  after  the  other  and 
gave  no  indication  whether  the  guesses  were  right  or  wrong.  The 
suit  was  not  attempted,  so  that  the  chances  of  error  were,  I  suppose, 

12  tO  I. 

On  comparing  the  two  lists  afterwards,  out  of  16  guesses  only  6 
were  wrong.  Full  contact  was  allowed  during  this  series.  The 
lists  are  reproduced  below. 

The  card  guessing  is  obviously  not  of  the  slightest  use  unless  bona 
fides  are  certain,  but,  given  that,  it  affords  the  readiest  method  of 
studying  the  effect  of  varied  conditions,  interposed  obstacles,  and  such 
like.  The  whole  pack  was  always  used  and  I  simply  cut  it  at  ran- 
dom and  held  up  the  bottom  card.  About  IO  or  12  cards  could  be 
got  through  in  a  minute. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  the  first  card  series.  Full  contact 
allowed : 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  65 

CARDS  LOOKED  AT.  CARDS  GUESSED. 

Seven  of  Spades Seven 

Six  of  Hearts Six 

Queen  of  Spades King 

Nine  of  Spades Nine 

Three  of  Spades Six 

Eight  of  Diamonds Eight 

Ace  of  Clubs Ace 

Knave  of  Diamonds Queen 

Five  of  Diamonds Five 

Two  of  Spades Ace 

Ten  of  Hearts Six 

King  of  Diamonds King 

Ace  of  Spades Ace 

Nine  of  Diamonds Six 

Eight  of  Hearts Eight 

Four  of  Spades Four  2  1-2 

Thus,  out  of  sixteen  trials,   10  were  correct  and  6  were  wrong. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause  of  this  amount  of  success, 
chance  is  entirely  out  of  the  question,  since  the  probability  of 
so  many  successes  as  ten  in  sixteen  trials,  when  the  individual 
probability  each  time  is  one-thirteenth,  is  too  small  to  be 
taken  into  account. 

The  theory  of  such  a  culculation  is  given  in  Todhunter's 
Algebra,  articles  740  and  741 ;  but  as  exactness  in  such  a 
case  is  rather  tedious  and  unnecessary,  we  may  over-estimate 
the  total  probability  by  calculating  it  as  follow:  —  C-V°- 

,5  '       •  &  io!6!    \i3/      » 

thus  leaving  out  the  factor  '(").  This  factor  would  be 
necessary  to  give  the  chance  of  ten  successes  exactly;  but  that 
is  needlessly  narrow,  since  there  is  no  particular  point  in  the 
exact  number  of  10.  The  chance  of  ten  at  least  is  more  like 
what  we  have  to  express. 


66  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

So  an  over-estimate  of  probability  is  ^L;  that  is  to  say, 
there  is  less  than  one  chance  in  ten  million  that  such  a  result 
would  occur  at  perfect  random,  i.  e.,  without  any  special 
cause. 

Some  guesses  were  made,  both  with  cards  and  objects,  on  another 
evening,  without  contact,  but  none  were  successful.  With  contact 
there  was  success  again. 

I  then  went  back  to  simple  drawings;  with  the  result  that  a  cross 
was  reproduced  as  a  cross;  a  figure  like  4  petals  was  reproduced  in 
two  ways,  one  of  them  being  a  vague  5-petalled  figure. 

An  object  consisting  of  an  ivory  pocket  measure,  standing  on  end 
like  an  inverted  V,  was  drawn  fairly  well  as  to  general  aspect. 

A  sinuous  line  was  reproduced  as  a  number  of  sinuous  lines;  a 
triangle  or  wedge,  point  downward,  was  reproduced  imperfectly. 

On  other  evenings  other  simple  diagrams  were  tried,  such  as  a 
face,  reproduced  as  3  rounds  with  dots  and  cross;  and  a  figure 
like  an  A  with  an  extra  long  cross  stroke,  which  could  be  easily 
signalled  as  an  A,  but  which  was  reproduced  correctly  as  a  geomet- 
rical diagram  with  the  long  stroke  prominent. 

A  circle  with  3  radii  was  reproduced  as  a  circle  with  roughly  in- 
scribed triangle. 

The  number  3145  was  reproduced  orally  and  very  quickly  as  3146; 
715  also  quickly  as  "714,  no  715."  The  written  word  hund  was 
reproduced  correctly,  but  with  a  capital  initial  letter. 

And  being  told  that  they  had  previously  thus  reproduced  a  word 
in  an  unknown  language  (not  unknown  character),  viz.,  Hungarian, 
I  tried  the  Greek  letters  <£cu8a>;  this,  however,  was  considered  too 
puzzling  and  was  only  reproduced  as  Uaso. 

A  French  high-heeled  shoe,  of  crockery,  set  up  as  object,  was  drawn 
by  the  percipient  very  fairly  correctly,  and  said  to  be  something  like  a 
boot,  and  a  protuberance  was  tacked  on  where  the  heel  was. 

A  white  plaster  cast  of  a  child's  hand,  next  tried,  failed  to  give 
any  impression.  An  unlighted  candle  in  candlestick  was  unsuccess- 
ful, and  it  was  objected  that  there  was  too  much  glare  of  light.  Sub- 
sequently the  percipient  said  she  had  seen  the  general  outline  of  a 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY 


67 


candlestick,  but  did  not  think  of  its  being  the  thing.  A  teapot  and  a 
cup  both  failed,  and  two  of  the  drawings  did  not  succeed  in  stimu- 
lating any  colourable  imitation. 

Lastly,  another  set  of  card  trials  were  made,  with  the  object  of 
testing  the  effect  of  various  kinds  of  contact:  a  card  series  being 
quick  and  easy  to  run  through. 


CARD 

CARD 

EXHIBITED 

NAMED    BY 

TO   AGENT. 

PERCIPIENT. 

Full  contact  with  both  /Nine     .      .      .      . 
hands      .      .      .      .vKing     .      .      .      . 

Nine 
King 

Knave  . 

Two 

Contact    with    tips    of 
fingers  only  . 

Nine     .      . 
Nine     . 
Queen  .... 

Nine 
Ten 
Two 

.Eight    .      .      .      . 

Eight 

'Five     . 

Six 

Seven    .... 

Seven 

Contact  with  one  fin- 

Three  .      .      .      . 

Four 

ger  of  one  hand  . 

Ten      .... 
Queen  . 

Six 
Two 

Ace       .... 

Ace 

XT                                    rAce      .... 
No  contact       .      .      .  J  ., 
\Knave  .... 

Four 
Five 

No  direct  contact,  but  [King     .... 

Four 

gap  bridged  by  other^  Four     .... 

Eight 

person's  hand     .      .  iTen      .... 

Seven 

Slight       contact       ofL.lg 
,        ,  ,                         1  Six        .... 

knuckles        .      .      .    _ 

1-  1  WO       .... 

Six 
Ace 
Two 

Knave  .... 

Ace 

Seven    . 

Six 

Full  contact  again 

Three   . 
Four     . 

Three 
Four 

Ace  of  diamonds  . 

Ace  —  red  —  diamond 

Nine  of  clubs  held 

sideways 

Nine  —  clubs 

68  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

The  record  of  this  series  is  more  complete  than  that  of  another 
varying  contact  series, —  reported  below, —  but  it  did  not  strike  me 
as  so  instructive  at  the  time;  and  as  it  came  toward  the  end  of  an 
evening  there  was  probably  some  fatigue. 

The  last  two  entries  represent  attempts  to  get  the  suit  as  well; 
but  as  the  particulars  are  given  in  stages  there  is  no  particular  advan- 
tage in  thus  naming  a  card  completely,  and  it  takes  a  longer  time. 

On  another  evening  the  amount  of  contact  was  varied,  but  I 
omitted  to  call  out  to  the  reporter  the  position  of  the  hands  with 
reference  to  each  other.  One  hand  of  each  person  lay  on  a  table,  and 
I  sometimes  made  them  touch,  sometimes  separated  them,  all  the  time 
going  on  with  the  card  series.  My  impression  at  the  time  was  (as 
expressed  above),  that  pronounced  failure  began  directly  I  broke  con- 
tact, but  that  mere  knuckle  contact  was  sufficient  to  permit  some 
amount  of  success.  [When  successes  are  frequent  in  the  following 
list,  fairly  complete  contact  may  be  assumed.  At  other  times  I 
broke  and  united  the  two  hands  as  I  chose,  for  my  own  edification, 
and  was  struck  with  the  singular  efficiency  of  contact.] 

I  can  only  give  the  record  as  it  stands.  I  believe  we  began  with- 
out any  contact,  but  very  soon  made  the  hands  touch  intermittently. 

Second  Card  Series.     Varying  amount  of  contact:  sometimes  none. 

CARD   SHOWN.  CARD   GUESSED. 

Two  of  Spades Knave 

Ace  of  Diamonds Five 

Knave  of  Diamonds Knave 

IO  of  Diamonds     . 9 

6  of   Hearts 5 

8  of   Hearts 9 

9  of  Diamonds Ace 

King  of  Diamonds King 

10  of  Hearts 10 

9  of  Clubs 9 

^ce Ace 

Queen Two 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  69 

CARD   SHOWN.  CARD   GUESSED. 

Queen Queen 

Knave Ace 

King   , King 

Eight Eight 

Eight Eight 

Seven F'ght 

Ace Ace 

Knave Knave 

Seven Seven 

Four >  ".     .  Four 

9 6 

Queen 3 

King King 

Ace 7 

Ace 5 

5 10 

5 4 

6 7 

5 3 

6 6 

2 3 

3 6 

4 4 

2 8 

4 .5 

3 4 

3 Knave 

Where  lines  are  drawn  it  is  because  I  called  out  some  change  in 
the  contact;  but  I  made  other  changes  whose  occurrence  is  not  re- 
corded. 


70  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

The  only  use  to  be  made  of  the  record  of  this  series,  therefore,  is  to 
treat  it  as  a  whole  and  to  observe  that  out  of  39  trials  16  were  cor- 
rect and  23  wrong. 

On  this  occasion  there  was  one  reporter  who  wrote  down 
both  what  he  saw  and  what  he  heard;  and  the  operation 
was  so  rapid  that  he  had  sometimes  barely  time  to  do  the 
writing.  Towards  the  end  of  a  series,  fatigue  on  the  part 
of  either  agent  or  percipient  generally  seemed  to  spoil  the 
conditions. 

It  is  manifest  that  these  experiments  should  not  be  con- 
ducted too  long  consecutively,  nor  repeated  without  sufficient 
interval;  but  if  common  sense  is  used  there  is  nothing 
deleterious  in  the  attempt,  and  if  more  persons  tried,  prob- 
ably the  power  would  be  found  more  widely  distributed  than 
is  at  present  suspected. 

I  wish  to  express  gratitude  to  the  Fraulein  von  Lyro  and 
their  parents,  for  the  courtesy  with  which  they  acquiesced 
in  my  request  for  opportunities  of  experiment,  and  for  the 
willingness  with  which  they  submitted  to  dull  and  irksome 
conditions,  in  order  to  enable  me  to  give  as  good  evidence  as 
possible. 

EXPERIMENTS  AT  A  DISTANCE 

For  more  recent  experiments,  and  for  experiments  con- 
ducted over  a  considerable  intervening  distance,  I  must  refer 
to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
vol.  xxi.,  where  an  account  is  given  of  the  notable  and  care- 
ful series  of  observations  made  by  two  lady  members  of  the 
Society,  Miss  Miles  and  Miss  Ramsden.  These  ladies, 
while  at  their  respective  homes,  or  staying  in  country  houses 
and  other  places  at  a  distance  from  each  other,  endeavoured 
to  transmit  an  impression  of  scenes  and  occupations  from  one 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  71 

to  the  other.  They  kept  a  careful  record  both  of  what  they 
tried  to  send,  and  of  what  was  received.  And  when  these 
records  are  compared,  the  correspondence  is  seen  to  be  be- 
yond and  above  anything  that  might  be  due  to  chance. 

Collusion  might  rationally  be  urged  as  an  explanation,  by 
strangers ;  but  that  is  not  an  explanation  that  can  be  accepted 
by  those  who  know  all  the  facts. 

When  Miss  Miles  and  Miss  Ramsden  began  their  experi- 
ments in  1905,  Miss  Miles  was  living  in  London,  and  Miss 
Ramsden  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  the  arrangement  was  that 
Miss  Miles  should  play  the  part  of  agent,  Miss  Ramsden  that 
of  percipient,  the  times  of  the  experiment  being  fixed  before- 
hand. Miss  Miles  noted,  at  the  time  of  each  experiment,  in 
a  book  kept  for  the  purpose,  the  idea  or  image  which  she 
wished  to  convey;  while  Miss  Ramsden  wrote  down  each 
day  the  impressions  that  had  come  into  her  mind,  and  sent 
the  record  to  Miss  Miles  before  knowing  what  she  had  at- 
tempted on  her  side.  Miss  Miles  then  pasted  this  record 
into  her  book  opposite  her  own  notes,  and  in  some  cases 
added  a  further  note  explanatory  of  her  circumstances  at  the 
time;  since  to  these  it  was  found  that  Miss  Ramsden's  im- 
pressions often  corresponded.  Whenever  it  was  possible 
Miss  Miles  obtained  confirmatory  evidence  from  other 
persons  as  to  the  circumstances  that  had  not  been  noted  at 
the  time,  and  the  corroboration  of  these  persons  was  written 
in  her  book.  All  the  original  records  of  these  experiments 
have  been  submitted  to  the  Editor  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and  have  passed  that  very 
critical  ordeal. 

In  the  second  series  of  experiments,  in  October  and 
November  1906,  Miss  Miles,  the  agent,  was  staying  first 
near  Bristol  and  afterwards  near  Malmesbury  in  Wiltshire; 
while  Miss  Ramsden,  the  percipient,  was  living  all  the  time 


72  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

near  Kingussie,  Inverness-shire,  and  therefore  at  a  distance 
of  about  400  miles  from  the  agent.  During  the  last  three 
days  of  the  experiments,  Miss  Miles,  unknown  to  Miss 
Ramsden,  was  in  London. 

The  general  plan  of  action  was  that  Miss  Ramsden  should 
think  of  Miss  Miles  regularly  at  7  p.  m.  on  every  day  that 
an  experiment  was  to  be  tried,  and  should  write  her  impres- 
sions on  a  postcard  or  letter  card,  which  was  posted  almost 
always  on  the  next  morning  to  Miss  Miles.  These  post- 
cards or  letter  cards  were  kept  by  Miss  Miles  and  pasted 
into  her  notebook,  so  that  the  postmarks  on  them  show  the 
time  of  despatch.  And  copies  of  many  of  these  postcards 
were  sent  also  at  the  same  time  to  Professor  Barrett,  who 
had  advised  concerning  the  method  of  experiment. 

Miss  Miles  on  her  side  had  no  fixed  time  for  thinking  of 
Miss  Ramsden,  but  thought  of  her  more  or  less  during  the 
whole  day,  and  in  the  evening  noted  briefly  what  ideas  had 
been  most  prominently  before  her  mind  during  the  day,  and 
which  she  wished  to  convey,  or  thought  might  have  been 
conveyed,  to  Miss  Ramsden.  These  notes  were  made  gen- 
erally on  a  postcard,  which  was  as  a  rule,  posted  to  Miss 
Ramsden  next  day.  The  postcards  were  afterwards  re- 
turned to  Miss  Miles  to  be  placed  with  her  records, —  so 
that  here  also  the  postmarks  show  the  date  of  despatch  of  the 
information  to  Miss  Ramsden. 

Out  of  a  total  of  fifteen  days'  experiments,  the  idea  that 
Miss  Miles  was  attempting  to  convey,  as  recorded  on  her 
postcards,  appeared  on  six  occasions  in  a  complete  or  partial 
form  among  Miss  Ramsden's  impressions  on  the  same  date. 
But  it  also  happened  that  almost  every  day  some  of  Miss 
Ramsden's  impressions  represented,  pretty  closely,  something 
that  Miss  Miles  had  been  seeing  or  talking  about  on  the 
same  day.  In  other  words, —  while  the  agent  only  sue- 


EXPERIMENTAL  TELEPATHY  73 

ceeded  occasionally  in  transferring  the  ideas  deliberately 
chosen  by  her  for  the  purpose,  the  percipient  seemed  often 
to  have  some  sort  of  supernormal  knowledge  of  her 
friend's  surroundings,  irrespective  of  what  that  friend  had 
specially  wished  her  to  see. 

When  this  happened,  Miss  Miles  at  once  made  careful 
notes  of  the  event  or  topic  to  which  Miss  Ramsden's  state- 
ment seemed  to  refer,  and  also  obtained  corroborations  from 
her  friends  on  the  spot.  Further,  when  Miss  Ramsden 
gave  descriptions  of  scenes  which  seemed  to  Miss  Miles  like 
the  places  where  she  was  staying,  she  got  picture  postcards 
of  them,  or  photographed  them,  to  show  how  far  the  de- 
scriptions really  corresponded. 

The  actual  record  is  given  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  xxi.,  together  with  illus- 
trations, but  it  must  suffice  here  to  quote  the  critical  and 
judicial  opinions  of  the  Editor,  which  is  thus  given: — 

"  After  studying  all  the  records,  it  appears  to  us  that 
while  some  of  the  coincidences  of  thought  between  the  two 
experimenters  are  probably  accidental,  the  total  amount  of 
correspondence  is  more  than  can  be  thus  accounted  for  and 
points  distinctly  to  the  action  of  telepathy  between  them." 


CHAPTER   V 

SPONTANEOUS  CASES  OF  THOUGHT- 
TRANSFERENCE 

ANEW  fact  of  this  sort,  if  really  established,  must 
have  innumerable  consequences :  among  other  things 
it  may  be  held  to  account  for  a  large  number  of 
phenomena  alleged  to  occur  spontaneously,  but  never  yet  re- 
ceived with  full  credence  by  scientific  authority. 

Such  cases  as  those  which  immediately  follow,  for  in- 
stance, we  now  begin  to  classify  under  the  head  "  spontane- 
ous telepathy,"  and  it  is  natural  to  endeavour  to  proceed 
further  in  the  same  direction  and  use  telepathy  as  a  possible 
clue  to  many  other  legendary  occurrences  also;  as  we  shall 
endeavour  to  show  in  the  next  chapter. 

Two  CASES 

As  stepping  stones  from  the  experimental  to  the  spontane- 
ous cases  I  quote  two  from  a  mass  of  material  at  the  end  of 
Mr.  Myers's  first  volume,  page  674;  the  first  concerning  a 
remote  connexion  of  my  own. 

On  the  27th  of  April,  1889,  we  were  expecting  my  sister-in-law 
and  her  daughter  from  South  America.  My  wife,  being  away  from 
home,  was  unable  to  meet  them  at  Southampton,  so  an  intimate  friend 
of  the  family,  a  Mr.  P.,  offered  to  do  so.  It  was  between  Derby  and 
Leicester  about  3.30  p.m.  My  wife  was  travelling  in  the  train. 
She  closed  her  eyes  to  rest,  and  at  the  same  moment  a  telegram  paper 
appeared  before  her  with  the  words,  "  Come  at  once,  your  sister  is 
dangerously  ill."  During  the  afternoon  I  received  a  telegram  from 
Mr.  P.  to  my  wife,  worded  exactly  the  same  and  sent  from  Southamp- 

74 


SPONTANEOUS  CASES  75 

ton  3.  30  p.m.  to  Bedford.  On  my  wife's  arrival  home  about  9  p.m. 
I  deferred  communicating  it  until  she  had  some  refreshment,  being 
very  tired.  I  afterwards  made  the  remark,  "  I  have  some  news  for 
you,"  and  she  answered,  "  Yes,  I  thought  so,  you  have  received  a 
telegram  from  Mr.  P.!"  I  said,  "How  do  you  know?"  She  then 
told  me  the  contents  and  her  strange  experiences  in  the  train,  and 
that  it  impressed  her  so  much  that  she  felt  quite  anxious  all  the  rest 
of  the  journey. 

With  regard  to  the  above,  my  wife  had  no  idea  of  her  sister  being 
ill,  and  was  not  even  at  the  time  thinking  about  them,  but  was  think- 
ing about  her  own  child  she  had  just  left  at  a  boarding  school.  Alse 
the  handwriting  my  wife  saw,  she  recognised  at  once  to  be  Mr.  P.'s. 
But  then,  again,  he  would  have  been  writing  on  a  white  paper  form, 
and  the  one  she  saw  was  the  usual  brown  coloured  paper. 

FREDK.  L.  LODGE. 

In  reply  to  inquiries,  Mr.  F.  Lodge  wrote  as  follows: — 

The  letter  I  sent  you,  with  account  of  vision,  I  wrote  from  my 
wife's  dictation.  After  it  occurred  in  the  train  she  took  notice  of 
the  hour,  and  from  the  time  marked  on  the  telegram  of  its  despatch 
from  Southampton,  we  at  once  remarked  it  must  have  occurred  as 
Mr.  P.  was  filling  in  a  form  at  Southampton.  Mr.  P.  is  now  in 
South  America  constructing  a  railway  line,  and  will  not  return  to 
England  for  about  a  year.  The  occurrence  was  mentioned  to  him. 

Two  years  having  elapsed,  my  wife  could  not  say  the  exact  time 
now,  but  it  was  between  3  and  4  p.m.,  although  when  it  happened, 
we  did  notice  from  the  telegram  that  the  time  corresponded. 

FREDK.  L.  LODGE. 

The  second  case  illustrates  the  communicating  of  sensa- 
tions,—  a  possibility  verified  in  the  Liverpool  experiments 
of  Mr.  Malcolm  Guthrie.  A  pinch  or  other  pain,  or  a 
taste  caused  by  some  food  or  chemical,  was  there  often 
transferred  from  agent  to  percipient.  Contact  was  usually 
found  essential  for  success  in  these  experimental  cases;  but, 


76  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

to  guard  against  normal  sensation,  the  agent  and  percipient 
were  arranged  in  separate  rooms,  with  a  specially  contrived 
and  padded  small  hole  in  the  wall  so  that  they  could  hold 
hands  through  it.  Some  early  experiments  of  this  kind  are 
narrated  in  the  first  volume  of  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  page 
275 ;  but  I  myself  was  present  at  many  others  of  the  same 
kind. 

Here  follows  an  account  of  the  incident  which  happened 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arthur  Severn;  the  narrative  having  been 
obtained  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Ruskin.  Mrs. 
Severn  says: — 

"  BRANTWOOD,  CONISTON, 
October  ^th,  1883. 

I  woke  up  with  a  start,  feeling  I  had  had  a  hard  blow  on  my 
mouth,  and  with  a  distinct  sense  that  I  had  been  cut,  and  was  bleeding 
under  »y  upper  lip,  and  seized  my  pocket-handkerchief,  and  held  it 
(in  a  little  pushed  lump)  to  the  part  as  I  sat  up  in  bed;  and  after 
a  few  seconds,  when  I  removed  it,  I  was  astonished  not  to  see  any 
blood,  and  only  then  realised  it  was  impossible  anything  could  have 
struck  me  there,  as  I  lay  fast  asleep  in  bed,  and  so  I  thought  it  was 
only  a  dream !  —  but  I  looked  at  my  watch,  and  saw  it  was  seven, 
and  finding  Arthur  (my  husband)  was  not  in  the  room,  I  concluded 
(rightly)  that  he  must  have  gone  out  on  the  lake  for  an  early  sail, 
as  it  was  so  fine. 

I  then  fell  asleep.  At  breakfast  (half-past  nine),  Arthur  came  in 
rather  late,  and  I  noticed  he  rather  purposely  sat  farther  away  from 
me  than  usual,  and  every  now  and  then  put  his  pocket-handkerchief 
furtively  up  to  his,  lip,  in  the  very  way  I  had  done.  I  said,  '  Arthur, 
why  are  you  doing  that  ?  '  and  added  a  little  anxiously,  '  I  know  you 
have  hurt  yourself!  but  I'll  tell  you  why  afterwards.'  He  said, 
'  Well,  when  I  was  sailing,  a  sudden  squall  came,  throwing  the  tiller 
suddenly  round,  and  it  struck  me  a  bad  blow  in  the  mouth,  under  the 
upper  lip,  and  it  has  been  bleeding  a  good  deal  and  won't  stop.'  I 
then  said,  '  Have  you  any  idea  what  o'clock  it  was  when  it  hap- 
pened ? '  and  he  answered,  '  It  must  have  been  about  seven.' 


SPONTANEOUS  CASES  77 

I  then  told  what  had  happened  to  me,  much  to  his  surprise,  and  all 
who  were  with  us  at  breakfast. 

It  happened  here  about  three  years  ago  at  Brantwood. 

JOAN  R.  SEVERN." 

The  episode  is  duly  authenticated,  in  accordance  with  the 
rule  of  the  S.  P.  R.,  by  concurrent  testimony.  (Proc. 
S.  P.  R.,  vol.  ii,  p.  128;  also  "  Phantasms  "  i.,  188.) 

ANOTHER  CASE 

A  case  of  clairvoyance  or  distant  telepathy  was  told  me 
by  my  colleague  Professor  R.  A.  S.  Redmayne,  as  having 
happened  in  his  own  experience  when  he  was  engaged  in 
prospecting  for  mines  in  a  remote  district  of  South  Africa 
accompanied  only  by  a  working  miner  from  Durham.  His 
account  is  here  abbreviated : — 

So  far  as  they  could  keep  a  record  of  weeks  the  solitary  two  used 
to  play  at  some  game  on  Sundays,  instead  of  working,  but  on  one 
particular  Sunday  the  workman  declined  to  play,  saying  he  did  not 
feel  up  to  it,  as  he  had  just  had  an  intimation  of  his  mother's  death, — 
that  she  had  spoken  of  him  in  her  last  hours  saying  that  she  "  would 
never  see  Albert  again." 

My  informant  tried  to  chaff  his  assistant  out  of  his  melancholy, 
since  it  was  a  physical  impossibility  that  they  could  receive  recent  news 
by  any  normal  means.  But  he  adhered  to  his  conviction,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  North  Country  tradition  seemed  to  regard  it  as  natural 
that  he  should  thus  know. 

Weeks  afterwards  complete  confirmation  came  from  England,  both 
as  to  date  and  circumstance;  the  words  of  the  dying  woman  having 
been  similar  to  those  felt  at  the  time  by  her  distant  son. 

The  occurrence  made  a  marked  impression  on  my  in- 
formant and  broke  down  his  scepticism  as  to  the  possibility 
of  these  strange  occurrences. 


78  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

Fortunately  I  am  able  to  quote  confirmatory  evidence  of 
this  narrative;  for  very  soon  after  the  verification  Professor 
Redmayne  wrote  an  account  of  it  to  his  father,  and  from 
this  gentleman  I  have  received  a  certified  copy  of  the 
letter: — 

LETTER  FROM  PROFESSOR  REDMAYNE  TO  HIS  FATHER 

"  MGAGANE,  NR.  NEWCASTLE,  NATAL, 
2ist  Nov.  1891 

"  I  have  a  curious  and  startling  thing  to  tell  you : —  About  6  weeks 
ago,  Tonks  said  to  me  one  morning,  '  My  mother  is  dead,  Sir.  I 
saw  her  early  this  morning  lying  dead  in  bed  and  the  relatives  stand- 
ing round  the  bed ;  she  said  she  would  never  see  me  again  before  she 
died.'  I  laughed  at  him  and  ridiculed  the  matter,  and  he  seemed  to 
forget  it,  and  we  thought  (no)  more  of  it,  but  Tonks  asked  me  to 
note  the  date  which  I  did  not  do.  Last  Wednesday,  however,  Tonks 
received  a  letter  from  his  wife  telling  him  that  his  mother  was  dead 
and  had  been  buried  a  week,  that  she  died  early  one  Sunday  morning 
about  six  weeks  since  and  in  her  sleep;  but  before  she  fell  asleep  she 
said  she  would  never  see  '  Albert '  again.  About  a  fortnight  since 
I  told  some  people  what  Tonks  had  told  me,  giving  it  as  an  instance 
of  the  superstitiousness  of  the  Durham  pitmen,  and  they  were  startled 
when,  the  other  day,  I  told  them  the  dream  had  come  true.  I  will 
never  laugh  at  anything  like  this  again." 

The  above  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  from  my  son  R.  A.  S.  Red- 
mayne written  from  Mgagane,  Natal  S.  A.,  and  dated  November  2ist 
[1891.]  JOHN  M.  REDMAYNE. 

August  ist,  1902 
HAREWOOD,  GATESHEAD 

Professor  Redmayne  has  also  been  good  enough  to  get 
a  certificate  from  the  workman  concerned,  in  the  form  of 
a  copy  of  the  main  portion  of  the  above  letter,  with  the 
following  note  appended: — 


SPONTANEOUS  CASES  79 

"  The  above  extract  correctly  relates  what  occurred  to  me  whilst 
living  in  Natal  with  Mr.  Redmayne. 

Signed    ALBERT  TONKS 
Date       August  2ist,  1901 
Witness  to  above  Signature  N.  B.  PADDON 

Seaton  Delaval " 


Garibaldi's  dream  of  his  mother  at  Nice,  when  he  was  in 
mid-Pacific,  is  a  historical  instance  of  the  same  kind  (G.  M. 
Trevelyan.  Garibaldi  and  the  Thousand,  p.  18.) 


CHAPTER   VI 

APPLIED  TELEPATHY 

AN  EXAMPLE  OF  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  MODERN  THOUGHT 
ON  ANCIENT  SUPERSTITIONS 

IT  is  being  made  clear,  I  hope,  how  the  fact  of  thought- 
transference  —  especially  of  the  unconscious  or  sub- 
liminal variety  —  enables  us  to  admit  the  possibility  of 
the  truth  of  a  large  number  of  occurrences  which  previously 
we  should  have  been  liable  to  stigmatise  as  impossible  and 
absurd.  For  in  truth  not  only  apparitions  of  the  dying  and 
phantasms  of  the  living  may  tentatively  and  hypothetically 
be  thus  explained,  but  a  number  of  other  phenomena  seem 
likely  gradually  to  fall  into  their  place  in  an  orderly  and 
intelligible  Universe  when  submitted  to  this  rationalising 
treatment.  I  do  not  say  that  its  success  is  universal.  I 
hold  that  it  may  be  pressed  too  far;  there  are  some  things 
which  even  the  greatest  extension  of  it  will  not  explain. 
Nevertheless  when  we  have  a  clue  we  are  bound  to  follow 
it  up  to  the  utmost  before  abandoning  it,  and  we  will  there- 
fore enter  upon  a  consideration  of  as  many  phenomena  as  at 
this  stage  we  can  see  any  chance  of  beginning  rationally  to 
understand.  So  let  us  contemplate  the  subject  as  reasonably 
and  physically  as  we  can. 

By  thought-transference  I  mean  a  possible  communication 
between  mind  and  mind,  by  means  other  than  any  of  the 
known  organs  of  sense :  what  I  may  call  a  sympathetic  con- 
So 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  81 

nexion  between  mind  and  mind;  using  the  term  mind  in  a 
vague  and  popular  sense,  without  strict  definition.  And  as 
to  the  meaning  of  sympathetic  connexion, — let  us  take  some 
examples : — 

A  pair  of  iron  levers,  one  on  the  ground,  the  other  some 
hundred  yards  away  on  a  post,  are  often  seen  to  be  sympa- 
thetically connected;  for  when  a  railway  official  hauls  one 
of  them  through  a  certain  angle  the  distant  lever  or 
semaphore-arm  revolves  through  a  similar  angle.  The  dis- 
turbance has  travelled  from  one  to  the  other  through  a 
very  obvious  medium  of  communication  —  viz.,  an  iron 
wire  or  rope. 

A  reader  unacquainted  with  physics  may  think  "  trans- 
mission "  in  this  case  a  misnomer,  since  he  may  think  the 
connexion  is  instantaneous  —  but  it  is  not.  The  connexion 
is  due  to  a  pulse  which  travels  at  a  perfectly  definite  and 
measured  pace  —  approximately  three  miles  per  second. 

The  pulling  of  a  knob,  followed  by  the  ringing  of  a  bell, 
is  a  similar  process,  and  the  transmission  of  the  impulse 
in  either  of  these  cases  is  commonly  considered  simple  and 
mechanical.  It  is  not  so  simple  as  we  think;  for  concerning 
cohesion  we  are  exceedingly  ignorant,  and  why  one  end  of  a 
stick  moves  when  the  other  end  is  touched  no  one  at  present 
is  able  clearly  to  tell  us. 

Consider,  now,  a  couple  of  tuning  forks,  or  precisely 
similiar  musical  instruments,  isolated  from  each  other  and 
from  other  bodies, —  suspended  in  air,  let  us  say.  Sound 
one  of  them  and  the  other  responds  —  i.  e.,  begins  to  emit 
the  same  note.  This  is  known  in  acoustics  as  sympathetic 
resonance ;  and  again  a  disturbance  has  travelled  through  the 
medium  from  one  to  the  other.  The  medium  in  this  case 
is  intangible,  but  quite  familiar,  viz.,  atmospheric  air. 

Next,  suspend  a  couple  of  magnets,  alike  in  all  respects; 


82  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

pivoted,  let  us  say,  on  points  at  some  distance  from  each 
other:  Touch  one  of  the  magnets  and  set  it  swinging, — 
the  other  begins  to  swing  slightly,  too.  Once  more,  a  dis- 
turbance has  travelled  from  one  to  the  other,  but  the  medium 
in  this  case  is  by  no  means  obvious.  It  is  nothing  solid, 
liquid,  or  gaseous;  that  much  is  certain.  Whether  it  is 
material  or  not  depends  partly  on  what  we  mean  by 
"  material  " —  partly  requires  more  knowledge  before  a  satis- 
factory answer  can  be  given.  We  do,  however,  know  some- 
thing of  the  medium  operative  in  this  case,  and  we  call  it 
the  Ether  —  the  Ether  of  Space. 

In  these  cases  the  intensity  of  the  response  varies  rapidly 
with  distance,  and  at  a  sufficiently  great  distance  the  response 
would  be  imperceptible. 

This  may  be  hastily  set  down  as  a  natural  consequence 
of  a  physical  medium  of  communication,  and  a  physical  or 
mechanical  disturbance ;  but  it  is  not  quite  so. 

Consider  a  couple  of  telephones  connected  properly  by 
wires.  They  are  sympathetic,  and  if  one  is  tapped  the  other 
receives  a  shock.  Speaking  popularly,  whatever  is  said  to 
one  is  repeated  by  the  other,  and  distance  is  practically  un- 
important; at  any  rate,  there  is  no  simple  law  of  inverse 
square,  or  any  such  kind  of  law;  there  is  a  definite  channel 
for  the  disturbance  between  the  two. 

The  real  medium  of  communication,  I  may  say  paren- 
thetically, is  still  the  ether. 

Once  more,  take  a  mirror,  pivoted  on  an  axle,  and  capable 
of  slight  motion.  At  a  distance  let  there  be  a  suitable  re- 
ceiving instrument,  say  a  drum  of  photographic  paper  and 
a  lens.  If  the  sun  is  shining  on  the  mirror,  and  everything 
properly  arranged,  a  line  may  be  drawn  by  it  on  the  paper 
miles  away,  and  every  tilt  given  to  the  mirror  shall  be  re- 
produced as  a  kink  in  the  line.  And  this  may  go  on  over 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  83 

great  distances;  no  wire,  or  anything  else  commonly  called 
"  material  "  connecting  the  two  stations,  nothing  but  a  beam 
of  sunlight,  a  peculiar  state  of  the  ether. 

So  far  we  have  been  dealing  with  mere  physics.  Now 
poach  a  little  on  the  ground  of  physiology.  Take  two  brains, 
as  like  as  possible,  say  belonging  to  two  similar  animals; 
place  them  a  certain  distance  apart,  with  no  known  or  obvi- 
ous means  of  communication,  and  see  if  there  is  any  sympa- 
thetic link  between  them.  Apply  a  stimulus  to  one,  and  ob- 
serve whether  the  other  in  any  way  responds?  To  make 
the  experiment  conveniently,  it  is  best  to  avail  oneself  of 
the  entire  animal,  and  not  of  its  brain  alone.  It  is  then 
easy  to  stimulate  one  of  the  brains  through  any  of  the 
creature's  peripheral  sense  organs,  and  it  may  be  possible 
to  detect  whatever  effect  is  excited  in  the  other  brain  by 
some  motor  impulse,  some  muscular  movement  of  the  cor- 
responding animal. 

So  far  as  I  know  the  experiment  has  hitherto  been 
principally  tried  on  man.  This  has  certain  advantages  and 
certain  disadvantages.  The  main  advantage  is  that  the 
motor  result  of  intelligent  speech  is  more  definite  and  in- 
structive than  mere  pawings  and  gropings  or  twitchings. 
The  main  disadvantage  is  that  the  liability  to  conscious  de- 
ception and  fraud  becomes  serious,  much  more  serious  than 
it  is  with  a  less  cunning  animal. 

Of  course  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  experiment  will 
succeed  with  a  lower  animal  because  it  succeeds  with  man; 
but  I  am  not  aware  of  its  having  been  tried  at  present  ex- 
cept with  man. 

One  mode  of  trying  the  experiment  would  be  to  pinch  or 
hurt  one  individual  and  see  if  the  other  can  feel  any  pain. 
If  he  does  feel  anything  he  will  probably  twitch  and  rub, 
or  he  may  become  vocal  with  displeasure.  There  are  two 


84  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

varieties  of  the  experiment:  First,  with  some  manifest  link 
or  possible  channel,  as,  for  instance,  where  two  individuals 
hold  hands  through  a  stuffed-up  hole  in  a  partition-wall; 
and,  second,  with  no  such  obvious  medium,  as  when  tfiey 
are  at  a  distance  from  one  another. 

Instead  of  simple  pain  in  any  part  of  the  skin,  one  may 
stimulate  the  brain  otherwise,  by  exciting  some  special  sense 
organ;  for  instance,  those  of  taste  or  smell.  Apply  nauseous 
or  pleasant  materials  to  the  palate  of  one  individual  and  get 
the  receptive  person  to  describe  the  substance  which  the 
other  is  tasting. 

Experiments  of  this  kind  are  mentioned  above,  and  they 
have  had  a  fair  measure  of  positive  result.  But  I  am  not 
asking  for  credence  concerning  specific  facts  at  present.  A 
serious  amount  of  study  is  necessary  before  one  is  in  a  posi- 
tion to  criticise  any  statement  of  fact.  What  I  am  concerned 
to  show  is  that  such  experiments  are  not,  on  the  face  of 
them,  absurd;  that  they  are  experiments  which  ought  to  be 
made;  and  that  any  result  actually  obtained,  if  definite  and 
clear,  ought  to  be  gradually  and  cautiously  accepted,  whether 
it  be  positive  or  negative. 

So  far  I  have  supposed  the  stimulus  to  be  applied  to  the 
nerves  of  touch,  or  more  generally  the  skin  nerves,  and  to 
the  taste  nerves;  but  we  may  apply  a  stimulus  equally  well 
to  the  nerves  of  hearing,  or  of  smelling,  or  of  seeing.  An 
experiment  with  a  sound  or  a  smell  stimulus,  however,  is 
manifestly  not  very  crucial  unless  the  intervening  distance 
between  A  and  B  is  excessive;  but  a  sight  stimulus  can  be 
readily  confined  within  narrow  limits  of  space.  Thus,  a 
picture  can  be  held  up  in  front  of  the  eyes  of  A,  and  B  can 
be  asked  if  he  sees  anything;  and  if  he  does,  he  can  be  told 
either  to  describe  it  or  to  draw  it. 

If  the  picture  or  diagram  thus  shown  to  A  is  one  that  has 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  85 

only  just  been  drawn  by  the  responsible  experimenter  himself; 
if  it  is  one  that  has  no  simple  name  that  can  be  signalled;  if 
A  is  not  allowed  to  touch  B,  or  to  move  during  the  course 
of  the  experiment,  and  has  never  seen  the  picture  before;  if, 
by  precaution  of  screening,  rays  from  the  picture  can  be  posi- 
tively asserted  never  to  have  entered  the  eyes  of  B;  and  if, 
nevertheless,  B  describes  himself  as  "  seeing  "  it,  however 
dimly,  and  is  able  to  draw  it,  in  dead  silence  on  the  part  of 
all  concerned;  then,  I  say,  the  experiment  would  be  a  good 
one. 

But  not  yet  would  it  be  conclusive.  We  must  consider 
who  A  and  B  are. 

If  they  are  a  pair  of  persons  who  go  about  together,  and 
make  money  out  of  the  exhibition;  if  they  are  in  any  sense 
a  brace  of  professionals  accustomed  to  act  together,  I  deny 
that  anything  is  solidly  proved  by  such  an  experiment;  for 
cunning  is  by  no  means  an  improbable  hypothesis. 

Cunning  takes  such  a  variety  of  forms  that  it  is  tedious 
to  discuss  them;  it  is  best  to  eliminate  it  altogether.  That 
can  be  done  by  using  unassorted  individuals  in  unaccustomed 
rooms.  True,  the  experiment  may  thus  become  much  more 
difficult,  if  not  indeed  quite  impossible.  Two  entirely 
different  tuning  forks  will  not  respond.  Two  strangers 
are  not  usually  sympathetic,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that 
word;  perhaps  we  ought  not  to  expect  a  response.  Never- 
theless, the  experiment  must  be  made;  and  if  B  is  found  able 
to  respond,  not  only  to  A15  but  also  A2,  A3,  and  other  com- 
plete strangers,  under  the  conditions  already  briefly  men- 
tioned, the  experiment  may  be  regarded  as  satisfactory.  I 
am  prepared  to  assert  that  such  satisfactory  experiments 
have  been  made. 

But  the  power  of  response  in  this  way  to  the  uninteresting 
impression  of  strangers  does  not  appear  to  be  a  common 


86  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

faculty.  The  number  of  persons  who  can  act  efficiently  as 
B  is  apparently  very  limited.  But  I  do  not  make  this  asser- 
tion with  any  confidence,  for  so  few  people  have  as  yet  been 
seriously  tried.  It  is  most  likely  a  question  of  degree.  All 
shades  of  responsiveness  may  exist,  from  nearly  o  to  some- 
thing considerable. 

More  experiments  are  wanted.  They  are  not  difficult  to 
try,  and  sufficient  variety  may  be  introduced  to  prevent  the 
observations  from  being  too  deplorably  dull.  They  are 
I  confess  rather  dull. 

Before  considering  them  satisfactory  or  publishing  them 
it  would  be  well  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  a  trained  ob- 
server, who  may  be  able  to  suggest  further  precautions ;  but 
at  first  it  is  probably  well  to  choose  fairly  easy  conditions. 

Relations  are  probably  more  likely  to  succeed  than  are 
strangers;  persons  who  feel  a  sympathy  with  each  other, 
who  are  accustomed  to  imagine  they  know  what  the  other  is 
thinking  of,  or  to  say  things  simultaneously,  and  such  like 
vague  traditions  as  are  common  in  most  families:  such  in- 
dividuals as  these  would  naturally  be  the  most  likely  ones 
to  begin  with,  until  experiment  shows  otherwise.  The  A 
power  seems  common  enough;  the  B  power,  so  far  as  I 
know,  is  rather  rare  —  at  least  to  a  prominent  extent. 

It  is  customary  to  call  A  the  agent  and  B  the  percipient, 
but  there  may  be  some  objection  to  these  names. 

The  name  agent  suggests  activity;  and  it  is  a  distinct 
question  whether  any  conscious  activity  is  necessary.  Sender 
and  receiver  are  terms  that  might  be  used,  but  they  labour 
under  similar  and  perhaps  worse  objections.  For  the 
present  let  us  simply  use  the  terms  A  and  B,  which  involve 
no  hypothesis  whatever. 

A  may  be  likened  to  the  sending  microphone  or  trans- 
mitter; B  to  the  receiving  telephone. 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  87 

A  to  the  sounded  fork  or  quivering  magnet,  B  to  the  re- 
sponsive one. 

A  to  the  flashing  mirror,  B  to  the  sensitive  sheet. 

But  observe  that  in  all  the  cases  hitherto  mentioned  a 
third  person  is  mentioned  too,  the  experimenter,  C.  A  and 
B  are  regarded  as  mere  tools,  instruments,  apparatus,  for 
C  to  make  his  experiments  with. 

Both  are  passive  till  C  comes  and  excites  the  nerve  of  A, 
either  by  pinching  him,  or  by  putting  things  in  his  mouth, 
or  by  showing  him  diagrams  or  objects;  and  B  is  then  sup- 
posed to  respond  to  A.  It  may  be  objected  that  he  is  really 
responding  to  C  all  the  time.  Yes,  indeed,  that  may  some- 
times be  so,  and  it  is  a  distinct  possibility  to  remember.  If 
something  that  C  is  unconsciously  looking  at  is  described  by 
B,  instead  of  the  object  which  is  set  in  front  of  A,  the  ex- 
periment will  seem  a  failure.  There  are  many  such  possi- 
bilities to  bear  in  mind  in  so  novel  a  region  of  research. 

But  now  I  want  to  go  on  and  point  out  that  C  is  not 
essential.  He  probably  is  not  an  assistance  at  all,  very 
likely  he  is  an  obstruction  even  if  he  is  a  serious  and  well- 
intentioned  being.  But  if  D.  E.  F  are  present  too  as  ir- 
responsible spectators,  talking  or  fidgetting,  or  even  sitting 
still  and  thinking,  the  conditions  are  bad.  One  can  never 
be  sure  what  F  is  doing,  he  may  be  simply  playing  the  fool. 
An  experiment  conducted  in  front  of  a  large  audience  is 
scientifically  useless. 

Whenever  I  use  the  term  thought-transference  I  never 
mean  anything  like  public  performances,  whether  by  genuine 
persons  or  impostors.  The  human  race  is  so  constituted  that 
such  performances  have  their  value  —  they  incite  others  to 
try  experiments ;  but  in  themselves,  and  speaking  scientifically, 
public  performances  are  useless,  and  except  when  of  an  ex- 
ceptionally high  order  —  as  they  were  in  the  case  of  -the 


88  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

Zancigs  —  they  often  tend  to  obscure  a  phenomenon  by 
covering  it  with  semi-legitimate  contempt. 

I  fear  that  some  hypnotic  exhibitions  are  worse  than  use- 
less ;  in  so  far  as  they  are  conducted,  not  to  advance  science, 
but  to  exhibit  some  well  known  fact  again  and  again,  not 
even  to  students,  but  to  an  idle  gaping  crowd. 

To  return,  however,  to  A  and  B :  let  us  suppose  them  left 
alone,  not  stimulated  by  any  third  person ;  it  is  quite  possible 
for  A  to  combine  the  functions  of  C  with  his  own  functions, 
and  to  stimulate  himself.  He  may  look  at  a  picture  or  a 
playing  card,  or  he  may  taste  a  substance,  or  he  may,  if  he 
can,  simply  think  of  a  number,  or  a  scene,  or  an  event,  and, 
so  to  speak,  keep  it  vividly  in  his  mind.  It  may  happen 
that  B  will  be  able  to  describe  the  scene  of  which  A  is  think- 
ing, sometimes  almost  correctly,  sometimes  with  a  large  ad- 
mixture of  error,  or  at  least  of  dimness. 

The  experiment  is  virtually  the  same  as  those  above  men- 
tioned, and  may  be  made  quite  a  good  one;  the  only  weak 
part  is  that,  under  the  circumstances,  everything  depends  on 
the  testimony  of  A,  and  A  is  not  always  believed. 

This  is,  after  all,  a  disability  which  he  shares  with  C;  and, 
at  any  rate,  he  is  able  to  convince  himself  by  such  experi- 
ments, provided  they  are  successful. 

But  now  go  a  step  further.  Let  A  and  B  be  not  thinking 
of  experimenting  at  all.  Let  them  be  at  a  distance  from 
one  another,  and  going  about  their  ordinary  vocations,  in- 
cluding somnolence  and  the  other  passive  as  well  as  active 
occupations  of  the  twenty-four  hours.  Let  us,  however, 
not  suppose  them  strangers,  but  relatives  or  intimate  friends. 
Now  let  something  vividly  excite  A;  let  him  fall  down  a 
cliff,  or  be  run  over  by  a  horse,  or  fall  into  a  river;  or  let 
him  be  taken  violently  ill,  or  be  subject  to  some  strong  emo- 
tion; or  let  him  be  at  the  point  of  death. 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  89 

Is  it  not  conceivable  that  if  any  such  sympathetic  con- 
nexion between  individuals  as  I  have  been  postulating  exists, 
—  if  a  paltry  stimulus  supplied  by  a  third  person  is  capable 
in  the  slightest  degree  of  conveying  itself  from  one  in- 
dividual to  another, —  is  it  not  conceivable  or  even  probable 
that  a  violent  stimulus,  such  as  we  have  supposed  A  to  re- 
ceive, may  be  able  to  induce  in  B,  even  though  inattentive 
and  otherwise  occupied,  some  dim  echo,  reverberation, 
response,  and  cause  him  to  be  more  or  less  aware  that  A 
is  suffering  or  perturbed.  If  B  is  busy,  self-absorbed, 
actively  engaged,  he  may  notice  nothing.  If  he  happen  to 
be  quiescent,  vacant,  moody,  or  half  or  wholly  asleep,  he  may 
realise  and  be  conscious  of  something.  He  may  perhaps 
only  feel  a  vague  sense  of  depression  in  general;  or  he  may 
feel  the  depression  and  associate  it  definitely  with  A;  or  he 
may  be  more  distinctly  aware  of  what  is  happening,  and 
call  out  that  A  has  had  a  fall,  or  an  accident,  or  is  being 
drowned,  or  is  ill;  or  he  may  have  a  specially  vivid  dream 
which  will  trouble  him  long  after  he  wakes,  and  may  be  told 
to  other  persons,  and  written  down;  or  he  may  think  he 
hears  A's  voice ;  or,  lastly,  he  may  conjure  up  an  image  of 
A  so  vividly  before  his  "  mind's  eye  "  that  he  may  be  able 
to  persuade  himself  and  others  that  he  has  seen  his  appari- 
tion : —  sometimes  a  mere  purposeless  phantom,  sometimes 
in  a  "  setting  "  of  a  sort  of  vision  or  picture  of  an  event  not 
unlike  what  is  at  the  time  elsewhere  really  happening. 

The  Society  for  Psychical  Research  have,  with  splendid 
perseverance  and  diligence,  undertaken  and  carried  forward 
the  thankless  labour  of  receiving  and  sifting  a  great  mass  of 
testimony  to  phenomena  such  as  I  have  hinted  at.  They 
have  published  some  of  them  in  two  large  volumes,  called 
Phantasms  of  the  Living.  Fresh  evidence  comes  in  every 
month.  The  evidence  is  so  cumulative,  and  some  of  it  is 


90  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

so  well  established,  as  to  bear  down  the  dead  wall  of  sceptic- 
ism in  all  those  who  have  submitted  to  the  drudgery  of  a 
study  of  the  material.  The  evidence  induces  belief.  It  is 
not  yet  copious  enough  to  lead  to  a  valid  induction. 

I  cannot  testify  to  these  facts  as  I  can  to  the  simple  ex- 
periments where  I  have  acted  the  part  of  C.  Evidence  for 
spontaneous  or  involuntary  thought-transference  must  obvi- 
ously depend  on  statements  received  from  A  and  from  B, 
as  well  as  from  other  persons,  some  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  A,  others  in  the  neighbourhood  of  B,  together  with  con- 
temporary newspaper  reports,  Times'  obituaries,  and  other 
past  documents  relating  to  matters  of  fact,  which  are  avail- 
able for  scrutiny,  and  may  be  regarded  as  trustworthy. 

I  am  prepared,  however,  to  confess  that  the  weight  of 
testimony  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  my  own  mind  that  such  things 
do  undoubtedly  occur;  that  the  distance  between  England 
and  India  is  no  barrier  to  the  sympathetic  communication 
of  intelligence  in  some  way  of  which  we  are  at  present  igno- 
rant; that,  just  as  a  signalling  key  in  London  causes  a 
telegraphic  instrument  to  respond  instantaneously  in  Te- 
heran,—  which  is  an  every-day  occurrence, —  so  the  danger 
or  death  of  a  distant  child,  or  brother,  or  husband,  may  be 
signalled,  without  wire  or  telegraph  clerk,  to  the  heart  of  a 
human  being  fitted  to  be  the  recipient  of  such  a  message. 

We  call  the  process  telepathy  —  sympathy  at  a  distance ; 
we  do  not  understand  it.  What  is  the  medium  of  com- 
munication? Is  it  through  the  air,  like  the  tuning  forks; 
or  through  the  ether,  like  the  magnets;  or  is  it  something 
non-physical,  and  exclusively  psychical?  No  one  as  yet  can 
tell  you.  We  must  know  far  more  about  it  before  we  can 
answer  that  question, —  perhaps  before  we  can  be  sure 
whether  the  question  has  a  meaning  or  not. 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  91 

Undoubtedly,  the  scientific  attitude,  after  being  forced  to 
admit  the  fact,  is  to  assume  a  physical  medium,  and  to  dis- 
cover it  and  its  processes  if  possible.  When  the  attempt 
has  failed,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  enter  upon  fresh 
hypotheses. 

Meanwhile,  plainly,  telepathy  strikes  us  as  a  spontaneous 
occurrence  of  that  intercommunication  between  mind  and 
mind  (or  brain  and  brain),  which  for  want  of  a  better  term 
we  at  present  style  thought-transference.  We  may  be 
wrong  in  thus  regarding  it,  but  as  scientific  men  that  is  how 
we  are  bound  to  regard  it  unless  forced  by  the  weight  of 
evidence  into  some  apparently  less  tenable  position. 

The  opinion  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  spontane- 
ously occurring  impressions  can  be  artificially  and  experi- 
mentally imitated  by  conscious  attempts  to  produce  them. 
Individuals  are  known  who  can  by  an  effort  of  will  excite 
the  brain  of  another  person  at  a  moderate  distance, —  say 
in  another  part  of  the  same  town,  or  even  in  some  distant 
place, — so  that  this  second  person  imagines  that  he  hears  a 
call  or  sees  a  face. 

These  are  called  experimental  apparitions,  and  appear 
well  established.  These  experiments  also  want  repeating. 
They  require  care,  obviously;  but  they  are  very  valuable 
pieces  of  evidence,  and  must  contribute  immensely  to  ex- 
perimental psychology. 

What  now  is  the  meaning  of  this  unexpected  sympathetic 
resonance,  this  syntonic  reverberation  between  minds?  Is 
it  conceivably  the  germ  of  a  new  sense,  as  it  were, —  some- 
thing which  the  human  race  is,  in  the  progress  of  evolution, 
destined  to  receive  in  fuller  measure?  Or  is  it  the  relic  of  a 
faculty  possessed  by  our  animal  ancestry  before  speech  was? 

I  have  no  wish  to  intrude  speculations  upon  you,  and  I 


92  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

cannot  answer  these  questions  except  in  terms  of  speculation. 
I  wish  to  assert  nothing  but  what  I  believe  to  be  solid  and 
verifiable  facts. 

Let  me,  however,  point  out  that  the  intercommunion  of 
minds,  the  exciting  in  the  brain  of  B  a  thought  possessed  by 

A,  is  after  all  a  very  ordinary  and  well  known  process.     We 
have  a  quantity  of  well-arranged  mechanism  to  render  it 
possible.     The  human  race  has  advanced  far  beyond  the 
animal  in  the  development  of  this  mechanism;  and  civilised 
man  has  advanced  beyond  savages.     Conceivably,  by  thus 
developing  the  mechanism,  we  may  have  begun  to  lose  the 
spontaneous  and  really  simpler  form  of  the  power;  but  the 
power,  with  mechanism,  conspicuously  exists. 

I  whisper  a  secret  to  A,  and  a  short  time  afterwards  I 
find  that  B  is  perfectly  aware  of  it.  It  sometimes  happens 
so.  It  has  probably  happened  in  what  we  are  accustomed 
to  consider  a  very  commonplace  fashion;  A  has  told  him. 
When  you  come  to  analyse  the  process,  however,  it  is  not 
really  at  all  simple.  I  will  not  go  into  tedious  details;  but 
when  you  remember  that  what  conveyed  the  thought  was  the 
impalpable  compressions  and  dilatations  of  a  gas,  and  that 
in  the  process  of  transmission  it  existed  for  a  finite  space  of 
time  in  this  intermediate  and  curiously  mechanical  condition, 
you  may  realise  something  of  puzzlement  in  the  process.  I 
am  not  sure  but  that  we  ought  to  consider  some  direct 
sympathy  between  two  minds,  without  this  mechanical  pro- 
cess, as  really  a  more  simple  and  direct  mode  of  conveying  an 
idea.  However,  all  dualism  is  repugnant  when  pressed  far 
enough,  and  I  do  not  now  wish  to  insist  on  any  real  and  es- 
sential antithesis  between  mind  and  matter,  between  idea  and 
process.  Pass  on  to  another  illustration. 

Tell  a  secret  to  A,  in  New  Zealand,  and  discover  that 

B,  in  St.  Petersburg,  is  before  long  aware  of  it,  neither 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  93 

having  travelled.  How  can  that  happen?  That  is  not 
possible  to  a  savage;  it  would  seem  to  him  mysterious.  It 
is  mysterious  in  reality.  The  idea  existed  for  a  time  in  the 
form  of  black  scrawls  on  a  bit  of  paper,  which  travelled  be- 
tween the  two  places.  A  transfer  of  material  occurred,  not 
an  aerial  vibration;  the  piece  of  paper  held  in  front  of  B's 
eyes  excited  in  him  the  idea  or  knowledge  of  fact  which 
you  had  communicated  to  A. 

Not  even  a  material  transfer  is  necessary  however;  no 
matter  flows  along  a  telegraph  wire,  and  the  air  is  undis- 
turbed by  an  electric  current,  but  a  thought-transference 
through  the  etherial  medium  (with,  or  indeed  without,  the 
help  of  a  telegraph  or  telephone  wire)  is  an  accomplished 
fact,  though  it  would  have  puzzled  our  ancestors  of  last 
century.  And  yet  it  is  not  really  new,  it  is  only  the  distance 
and  perfection  of  it  that  is  new.  We  all  possess  an  etherial 
receiving  instrument,  in  our  organ  of  vision.  The  old 
semaphore  system  of  signalling,  as  well  as  the  heliograph 
method,  is  really  a  utilisation  of  the  ether  for  this  kind  of 
thought-transference.  Much  information,  sometimes  of 
momentous  character,  may  be  conveyed  by  a  wink  or  nod;  or 
even  by  a  look.  These  also  are  messages  sent  through  the 
ether.  The  eye  is  affected  by  disturbances  arriving  through 
the  ether,  and  by  those  alone. 

Now,  then,  I  say,  shut  the  eyes,  stop  the  ears,  transmit 
no  material  substance,  interpose  distance  sufficient  to  stop 
all  pushing  and  pulling.  Can  thought  or  ideas  still  be  trans- 
mitted? Experiment  answers  that  they  can.  But  what  the 
medium  is,  and  how  the  process  occurs,  it  remains  for  further 
investigation  to  ascertain. 

We  reduced  our  initial  three  individuals  to  two;  we  can 
reduce  the  two  to  one.  It  is  possible  for  the  A  and  B  func- 
tions to  be  apparently  combined  in  one  individual.  Some 


94  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

practice  seems  necessary  for  this,  and  it  is  a  curious  state  of 
things.  It  seems  assisted  by  staring  at  an  object  such  as  a 
glass  globe  or  crystal  —  a  slight  amount  of  self-hypnotism 
probably.  Then  you  see  visions  and  receive  impressions, 
or  sometimes  your  hand  works  unconsciously,  as  if  one  part 
of  your  brain  was  signalling  to  another  part,  and  your  own 
identity  was  dormant  or  complexed  for  a  time.  But  in 
these  cases  of  so-called  automatic  writing,  crystal  vision, 
trance-utterance,  clairvoyance,  and  the  like,  are  we  quite  sure 
whether  it  is  a  case  of  A  and  B  at  all;  and,  if  so,  whether 
the  subject  before  us  is  really  acting  as  both?  I  am  not 
sure;  I  distinctly  doubt  it  in  some  cases.  It  is  possible  that 
the  clairvoyant  is  responding  to  some  unknown  world-mind 
of  which  he  forms  a  part:  that  the  real  agent  is  neither 
himself  nor  any  other  living  person.  This  possibility  must 
not  be  ignored  in  ordinary  cases  of  apparent  thought-trans- 
ference, too. 

Well,  now  take  a  further  step.  Suppose  I  discover  a 
piece  of  paper  with  scrawls  on  it.  I  may  guess  they  are 
intended  for  something,  but  as  they  are  to  me  illegible 
hieroglyphics,  I  carry  it  to  one  person  after  another,  and 
get  them  to  look  at  it;  but  it  excites  in  them  no  response. 
They  perceive  little  more  than  a  savage  would  perceive. 
But  not  so  with  all  of  them.  One  man  to  whom  I  show  it 
has  the  perceptive  faculty,  so  to  speak;  he  becomes  wildly 
excited;  he  begins  to  sing;  he  rushes  for  an  arrangement  of 
wood  and  catgut,  and  fills  the  air  with  vibrations.  Even 
the  others  can  now  faintly  appreciate  the  meaning.  The 
piece  of  paper  was  a  lost  manuscript  of  Beethoven  I 

What  sort  of  thought-transference  is  that?  Where  is  the 
A  to  whom  the  ideas  originally  occurred?  He  has  been 
dead  for  years;  his  fossilised  thought  has  lain  dormant  in 
matter;  but  it  only  wanted  a  sympathetic  and  educated  mind 


APPLIED  TELEPATHY  95 

to  perceive  it,  to  revive  it,  and  to  make  it  the  property  of 
the  world.  Idea,  do  I  call  it?  but  it  is  not  only  idea,  there 
may  be  a  world  of  emotion,  too,  thus  stored  up  in  matter, 
ready  to  be  released  as  by  a  detent.  Action  of  mind  on  mat- 
ter, reaction  of  matter  on  mind  —  are  these  things,  after 
all,  commonplaces  too? 

If  so  what  is  not  possible? 

Here  is  a  room  where  a  tragedy  occurred,  where  the 
human  spirit  was  strung  to  intensest  anguish.  Is  there  any 
trace  of  that  agony  present  still  and  able  to  be  appreciated 
by  an  attuned  or  receptive  mind?r  I  assert  nothing,  except 
that  it  is  not  inconceivable.  If  it  happen,  it  may  take  many 
forms;  vague  disquiet  perhaps,  or  imaginary  sounds  or 
vague  visions,  or  perhaps  a  dream  or  picture  of  the  event 
as  it  occurred.  Understand  I  do  not  regard  the  evidence  for 
these  things  as  so  conclusive  as  for  some  of  the  other  phe- 
nomena I  have  dealt  with,  but  the  belief  in  such  facts  may 
be  forced  upon  us,  and  you  perceive  that  the  garment  of  su- 
perstition is  already  dropping  from  them.  They  will  take 
their  place,  if  true,  in  an  orderly  universe,  along  with  other 
not  wholly  unallied  and  already  well  known  occurrences. 

Relics  again :  is  it  credible  that  a  relic,  a  lock  of  hair,  an 
old  garment,  retains  any  trace  of  a  deceased  friend  —  re- 
tains any  portion  of  his  personality.  Does  not  an  old  letter? 
Does  not  a  painting?  An  "  old  master"  we  call  it.  Aye, 
there  may  be  much  of  the  personality  of  the  old  master  thus 
preserved.  Is  not  the  emotion  felt  on  looking  at  it  a  kind 
of  thought-transference  from  the  departed?  A  painting 
differs  from  a  piece  of  music  in  that  it  is  constantly  incarnate, 
so  to  speak.  It  is  there  for  all  to  see,  for  some  to  under- 
stand. The  music  requires  incarnation,  it  can  be  "  per- 
formed "  as  we  say,  and  then  it  can  be  appreciated.  But  in 
no  case  without  the  attuned  and  thoughtful  mind;  and  so 


96  THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

these  things  are,  in  a  sense,  thought-transference,  but  de- 
ferred thought-transference.  They  may  be  likened  to  tele- 
pathy not  only  reaching  over  tracts  of  space  but  deferred 
through  epochs  of  time.1 

Think  over  these  great  things  and  be  not  unduly  sceptical 
about  little  things.  An  attitude  of  keen  and  critical  inquiry 
must  continually  be  maintained,  and  in  that  sense  any  amount 
of  scepticism  is  not  only  legitimate  but  necessary.  The  kind 
of  scepticism  I  deprecate  is  not  that  which  sternly  questions 
and  rigourously  probes,  it  is  rather  that  which  confidently 
asserts  and  dogmatically  denies;  but  this  kind  is  not  true 
scepticism,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  for  it  deters 
inquiry  and  forbids  inspection.  It  is  too  positive  concern- 
ing the  boundaries  of  knowledge  and  the  line  where  supersti- 
tion begins. 

Phantasms  and  dreams  of  ghosts,  crystal  gazing,  premoni- 
tions, and  clairvoyance:  the  region  of  superstition?  Yes, 
hitherto,  but  possibly  also  the  region  of  fact.  As  taxes  on 
credulity  they  are  trifles  compared  to  things  with  which  we 
are  already  familiar;  only  too  familiar,  for  our  familiarity 
has  made  us  stupidly  and  inanely  inappreciative  of  them. 

The  whole  of  our  knowledge  and  existence  is  shrouded  in 
mystery:  the  commonplace  is  itself  full  of  marvel,  and  the 
business  of  science  is  to  overcome  the  forces  of  superstition 
by  enlisting  them  in  the  service  of  genuine  knowledge.  And 
when  this  is  done  I  do  not  doubt  that  some  of  these  forces 
will  be  found  auxiliary  to  the  sacred  cause  of  religion  itself. 

1  They  are  not  technical  telepathy,  as  defined,  of  course,  because  they 
occur  through  accustomed  ways  and  processes.  Technical  telepathy  is  the 
attainment  of  the  same  result  through  unaccustomed  ways  and  processes. 


SECTION  III 

SPONTANEOUS   TELEPATHY    AND 
CLAIRVOYANCE 


CHAPTER   VII 

APPARITIONS  CONSIDERED  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF 
TELEPATHY 

THE   fact  of  telepathy  having  been  experimentally 
established  by  a  larger  number  of  experiments  con- 
ducted by  different  people,  it  remains  to  consider 
more  fully  its  bearing  and  significance. 

Telepathy  means  the  apparently  direct  action  of  one  mind 
on  another  by  means  unknown  to  science.  That  a  thought 
or  image  or  impression  or  emotion  in  the  mind  of  one  person 
can  arouse  a  similar  impression  in  the  mind  of  another  per- 
son sufficiently  sympathetic  and  sufficiently  at  leisure  to  at- 
tend and  record  the  impression,  is  now  proved.  But  the 
mechanism  whereby  it  is  done,  or  even  if  there  is  anything 
that  can  be  likened  to  physical  mechanism  at  all,  is  still  un- 
known. The  appearance  is  as  if  it  were  a  direct  action  of 
mind  on  mind,  or  of  brain  on  brain,  irrespective  of  the  usual 
nerves  and  muscles  and  organs  of  sense. 

This  fact  alone  —  once  admitted,  after  having  run  the 
traditional  gauntlet  of  scepticism — serves  to  explain,  at 
least  in  a  plausible  and  tentative  manner,  a  number  of  puz- 
zling phenomena ;  notably  it  furnishes  a  plausible  key  to  the 
phenomena  of  apparitions  and  hallucinations  of  every  kind, 
whether  of  sight  or  of  hearing  or  of  touch.  It  is  of  especial 
value  in  reducing  the  rudimentary  difficulty  about  the  clothes 
and  accessories  of  so-called  "  ghosts  '-'  to  absurdity;  since  of 
course  a  mental  impression  would  represent  a  person  under 

99 


ioo  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

something  like  customary,  though  it  may  be  unexpected,  sur- 
roundings,—  just  as  happens  in  an  ordinary  dream. 

The  word  "  hallucination  "  applied  to  phantasmal  ap- 
pearances in  general  has  been  objected  to  in  connexion  with 
some  of  these  apparitions;  as  if  it  were  intended  to  imply 

—  as  it  is  often  mistakenly  assumed  to  imply  —  that  there 
is  no  objective  reality  underlying  the  apparition  whatever. 
It  is,  however,  fully  admitted  that  some  hallucinations  may 
be  and  indeed  are  veridical  (i.e.,  truth-telling)  ;  inasmuch  as 
they  correspond  with  some  real  event,  some  strong  emotion, 

—  due  perhaps  to  an  accident  or  to  the  illness  or  decease  of 
the  distant  and  visualised  person.     They  therefore  do  cor- 
respond with  some  objective  reality,  just  as  the  image  in  a 
looking-glass  corresponds  with  and  is  veridical  evidence  of 
some  objective  reality;  but  as  to  any  substantiality  about  a 
phantasm  —  that  must  be  regarded  as  demanding  further 
investigation.     Hypothetically    it    may    differ    in    different 
cases;  and  in  no  case  can  it  be  safe  to  assume,  without 
special  evidence,  that  it  has  anything  more  than  a  psycholog- 
ical basis. 

The  question  of  photography  applied  to  visible  phantasms, 
and  to  an  invisible  variety  said  to  be  perceived  by  clairvoy- 
ants, is  still  an  open  one  —  at  any  rate  no  photographic  evi- 
dence has  yet  appeared  conclusive  to  me.  If  successful, 
photography  could  prove  that  the  impression  was  not  only 
a  mental  one,  but  that  the  ether  of  space  had  been  definitely 
affected  in  a  certain  way  also,  so  that  the  impression  had 
probably  become  received  by  the  optical  apparatus  of  the 
eye,  and  had  been  transmitted  in  the  usual  way  to  the  brain. 
It  would  not  prove  substantiality;  since  of  course  it  is  per- 
fectly easy  to  photograph  the  virtual  image  formed  by  a 
looking-glass.  Still,  genuine  photography  would  indicate  a 
step  in  advance  of  telepathy:  it  would  establish  one  variety 


APPARITIONS  101 

of  what  are  called  "  physical  phenomena."  There  is,  in 
truth,  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  for  physical  phenomena  of 
this  technically  supernormal  kind;  but  they  have  not  yet 
made  good  their  claim  to  clear  and  positive  acceptance  in 
the  way  that  telepathy  has  done. 

But  we  are  at  present  not  attending  to  physical  phenomena. 
We  need  not  assume  that  an  apparition  has  any  objective  or 
physical  reality.  It  may  be  only  an  impression  on  the  mind 
of  a  percipient,  analogous  to  the  image  or  impression  caused 
in  one  person  while  another  is  endeavouring  to  transfer 
the  image  of  an  object.  That  which  experimentally  is  found 
to  occur  of  conscious  purpose  we  think  may  sometimes  occur 
unconsciously  too.  We  arc  not  sure  indeed  that  the  con- 
sciousness or  will  power  of  the  agent  has  anything  to  do 
with  it;  the  transfer  is  effected  we  know  not  how,  and  it 
may  be  wholly  an  affair  of  the  subconsciousness.  If  so,  a 
strong  emotion  even  in  a  distant  person  may  produce  an 
echo  or  reverberation  in  the  mind  of  a  relative  or  even  a 
sympathetic  stranger,  without  the  agent  being  in  the  least 
conscious  of  what  is  happening,  and  without  the  percipient 
in  the  least  understanding  the  process.  He  may  think  that 
the  impression  in  the  mind  is  real,  and  may  only  be  unde- 
ceived by  trying  to  touch  it,  or  he  may  perceive  that  it  is 
no  more  real  than  the  image  in  a  looking-glass,  or  not  so 
real  as  that  and  yet  may  feel  certain  that  it  corresponds  to 
some  sort  of  psychical  reality,  somewhere. 

In  that  case  the  impression  is  called  veridical  or  truth- 
telling,  because  it  does  convey  real  information,  though  it 
does  so  in  a  phantasmal  or  unreal  manner.  Hallucinations 
need  not  necessarily  be  unreal  or  phantasmal  in  every  case: 
that  is  a  matter  for  further  investigation,  but  it  does  as- 
suredly clear  the  ground  to  treat  them  as  such  in  the  first 
instance. 


102  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

PHANTASMS 

Examples  of  apparitions  seen  by  relatives  at  or  very  near 
to  the  epoch  of  death  are  so  common  that  it  is  hardly  worth 
while  to  quote  any  here.  The  publications  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  and  the  book  called  Phantasms  of 
the  Living  are  full  of  them;  and  in  most  assemblages  it 
will  be  found  that  a  few  of  those  present  are  aware  of  cases 
of  this  kind  in  their  own  family  history. 

Part  of  the  scepticism  which  has  surrounded  the  subject 
has  been  undoubtedly  due  to  the  difficult  notions  which  are 
rendered  necessary  if  those  apparitions  are  to  be  supposed 
objective  realities.  Even  supposing  a  human  being  could 
thus  appear,  the  apparition  of  his  clothes  and  simplest  acces- 
sories must  thus  become  puzzling.  Sometimes  such  figures 
are  seen  accompanied  by  animals,  sometimes  with  their  sur- 
roundings lightly  sketched  in  as  it  were, —  as  for  instance 
part  of  a  ship  in  the  case  of  a  sailor.  All  these  difficulties 
sink  into  non-existence  directly  it  is  apprehended  that  the 
vision  is  a  mental  impression  produced  by  a  psychical  agency, 
veridical  in  the  sense  of  corresponding  to  reality  more  or 
less  closely,  but  subjective  in  the  sense  of  there  being  no 
actual  bodily  presence.  This  is  the  kind  of  rationalising 
theory  on  which  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  started 
its  existence :  it  must  have  been  the  hope  of  similarly  detect- 
ing an  element  of  common  sense  running  through  a  great 
variety  of  popular  legend  that  conferred  on  its  pioneers  the 
motive  power  necessary.  Anyhow  that  was  their  adopted 
theory,  and  accordingly  all  such  apparitions  were  in  the  first 
instance  supposed  to  be  due  to  telepathy  from  the  dying 
person  and  were  called  Phantasms  of  the  Living. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  Report  of  one  of  the 
Committees : —  There  is  strong  testimony  that  clairvoyants 


APPARITIONS  103 

have  witnessed  and  described  trivial  incidents  in  which  they 
had  no  special  interest,  and  even  scenes  in  which  the  actors, 
though  actual  persons,  were  complete  strangers  to  them; 
and  such  cases  seem  properly  assimilated  to  those  where 
they  describe  mere  places  and  objects,  the  idea  of  which 
can  hardly  be  supposed  to  be  impressed  on  them  by  any 
personality  at  all.  Once  more,  apparitions  at  death,  though 
the  fact  of  death  sufficiently  implies  excitement  or  disturb- 
ance in  one  mind,  have  often  been  witnessed,  not  only  by 
relatives  or  friends,  in  a  normal  state  but  interested  in  the 
event  —  a  case  above  considered  —  but  by  other  observers 
who  had  no  personal  interest  in  the  matter. 

To  secure  testimony  on  these  topics  we  have  had  to  de- 
pend on  the  co-operation  of  the  public,  and  we  have  sought 
far  and  wide  for  trustworthy  testimony,  which  we  have 
tested  in  a  stringent  manner,  never  resting  satisfied  until  by 
inquiry  and  pertinacious  cross-examination,  with  an  examina- 
tion of  contemporary  records  of  various  kinds,  we  have 
made  as  sure  as  is  humanly  possibly  that  our  witnesses  were 
neither  lying  nor  drawing  unduly  on  their  imagination,  but 
that  the  event  happened  pretty  much  as  they  have  narrated 
or  at  the  time  recorded  by  them. 

"  Phantasms  of  the  Dying  "  might  be  a  better  name  for 
these  very  numerous  cases  of  apparition  or  veridical  halluci- 
nation. Whatever  the  cause,  the  fact  of  their  existence  has 
been  thoroughly  established;  there  is  a  concordance  far  be- 
yond chance  between  apparitions  which  convey  the  impres- 
sion of  the  unexpected  death  or  illness  of  a  distant  person, 
and  the  actual  fact; —  the  intelligence  being,  in  this  form  im- 
pressed on  a  percipient  at  a  distance,  by  some  apparently 
unconscious  mental  activity,  and  by  means  at  present  un- 
known. 

ABBREVIATED  EXAMPLES 

As  an  instance  of  a  vision  with  appropriate  accessories  I  might 
take  a  case  reported  more  fully  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 


104  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

Psychical  Research,  vol.  iii.,  page  97  —  the  case  of  a  favourite  and 
devoted  Scottish  workman  who  appeared  to  his  employer  in  what  is 
described  as  an  extraordinarily  vivid  dream  in  which  the  workman 
appeared  with  a  face  of  "  indescribable  bluish  pale  colour  and  on  his 
forehead  spots  like  blots  of  sweat,"  and  earnestly  said  several  times 
that  he  had  not  done  the  thing  which  he  was  accused  of  doing. 
When  asked  what  this  was,  he  replied  impressively  "  Ye'll  sune  ken." 
Almost  immediately  afterwards  the  news  of  this  man's  suicide  arrived. 
But  the  employer  felt  assured  on  the  strength  of  his  vision  that, 
though  dead,  the  man  had  not  committed  suicide;  and  said  so.  Be- 
fore long  it  turned  out  that  his  assurance  was  correct,  for  the  work- 
man had  drunk  from  a  bottle  containing  nitric  acid  by  accident.  The 
employer  moreover  subsequently  ascertained  that  the  symptoms  ex- 
hibited by  the  phantasmal  appearance  were  such  as  are  appropriate 
to  poisoning  by  this  liquid. 

Another  case  of  vision  with  more  detailed  accessories  is 
in  vol.  vii.,  page  33,  communicated  by  Dr.  Hodgson,  and 
may  be  abbreviated  thus: — 

Mrs.  Paquet  on  the  morning  of  October  24th,  1889,  after  her 
husband  had  gone  to  work  and  the  children  to  school,  feeling  gloomy, 
was  making  some  tea  for  herself,  when  she  saw  a  vision  of  her  brother 
Edmund  Dunn  standing  only  a  few  feet  away;  and  her  report 
continues  :• — 

"  The  apparition  stood  with  back  toward  me,  or  rather,  partially 
so,  and  was  in  the  act  of  falling  forward  —  away  from  me  —  seem- 
ingly impelled  by  two  ropes  or  a  loop  of  rope  drawing  against  his 
legs.  The  vision  lasted  but  a  moment,  disappearing  over  a  low  rail- 
ing or  bulwark,  but  was  very  distinct.  I  dropped  the  tea,  clasped 
my  hands  to  my  face,  and  exclaimed,  "  My  God !  Ed.  is  drowned." 

"  At  about  half-past  ten  a.m.  my  husband  received  a  telegram  from 
Chicago  announcing  the  drowning  of  my  brother.  When  he  arrived 
home,  he  said  to  me,  '  Ed.  is  sick  in  hospital  at  Chicago;  I  have  just 
received  a  telegram,'  to  which  I  replied  '  Ed.  is  drowned ;  I  saw  him 
go  overboard.'  I  then  gave  him  a  minute  description  of  what  I  had 


APPARITIONS  105 

seen.  I  stated  that  my  brother,  as  I  saw  him,  was  bareheaded,  had 
on  a  heavy,  blue  sailor's  shirt,  no  coat,  and  that  he  went  over  the  rail 
or  bulwark.  I  noticed  that  his  pants'  legs  were  rolled  up  enough  to 
show  the  white  lining  inside.  I  also  described  the  appearance  of  the 
boat  at  the  point  where  my  brother  went  overboard. 

"  I  am  not  nervous,  and  neither  before  nor  since  have  I  had  any 
experience  in  the  least  degree  similar  to  that  above  related. 

"  My  brother  was  not  subject  to  fainting  or  vertigo. 

"AGNES  PAQUET." 

MR.  PAQUET'S  STATEMENT 

"At  about  10.30  o'clock  a.m.,  October  24th,  1889,  I  received  a 
telegram  from  Chicago,  announcing  the  drowning  of  my  brother-in- 
law,  Edmund  Dunn,  at  3  o'clock  that  morning.  I  went  directly 
home,  and  wishing  to  break  the  force  of  the  sad  news  I  had  to  convey 
to  my  wife,  I  said  to  her :  '  Ed.  is  sick  in  hospital  at  Chicago ;  I 
have  just  received  a  telegram.'  To  which  she  replied :  *  Ed.  is 
drowned;  I  saw  him  go  overboard.'  She  then  described  to  me  the 
appearance  and  dress  of  her  brother  as  described  in  her  statement, 
also  the  appearance  of  the  boat,  etc." 

"  I  started  at  once  for  Chicago,  and  when  I  arrived  there  I  found 
the  appearance  of  that  part  of  the  vessel  described  by  my  wife  to  be 
exactly  as  she  had  described  it,  though  she  had  never  seen  the  vessel; 
and  the  crew  verified  my  wife's  description  of  her  brother's  dress, 
etc.,  except  that  they  thought  he  had  his  hat  on  at  the  time  of  the 
accident.  They  said  that  Mr.  Dunn  had  purchased  a  pair  of  pants 
a  few  days  before  the  accident  occurred,  and  as  they  were  a  trifle 
long,  wrinkling  at  the  knees,  he  had  worn  them  rolled  up,  showing 
the  white  lining  as  seen  by  my  wife." 

STATEMENT  OF  ACCIDENT 

"On  October  24th,  1889,  Edmund  Dunn,  brother  of  Mrs.  Agnes 
Paquet,  was  serving  as  fireman  on  the  tug  Wolf,  a  small  steamer 
engaged  in  towing  vessels  in  Chicago  harbour.  At  about  three 
o'clock  a.m.,  the  tug  fastened  to  a  vessel,  inside  the  piers,  to  tow 


io6  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

her  up  the  river.     While  adjusting  the  tow-line  Mr.  Dunn  fell,  or 
was  thrown  overboard  by  the  tow-line,  and  drowned." 

In  this  case,  if  3  a.m,  signifies  Chicago  time,  the  vision 
must  have  followed  the  accident  very  closely;  but  it  has 
gradually  become  clear  that  some  of  these  cases  do  not 
coincide  precisely  with  the  epoch  of  death,  but  follow  it  some- 
times at  so  long  an  interval  that  another  group  has  to  be 
classified  as  "  Phantasms  of  the  Dead."  (See  Mrs.  Sidg- 
wick's  Memoir  on  the  subject  in  Proceedings,  vol.  iii.) 

Again  occasionally  the  hallucinations  are  collective,  so  that 
several  people  present  see  the  same  vision.  It  is  possible 
to  consider  these  as  cases  of  contagious  hallucination:  and 
it  is  not  usually  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  distant  person 
whose  image  was  being  seen  knew  anything  about  it  or  was 
making  any  conscious  effort  to  communicate. 

If  indeed  he  were  conscious  of  the  attempt,  still  more  if 
he  knew  of  its  success  and  reception,  it  would  be  a  feature 
of  greatly  added  interest;  it  would  then  fall  into  the  class  of 
reciprocal  cases  —  which  are  rarer. 

EXPERIMENTAL  APPARITIONS 

The  fact  that  such  visions  can  also  be  produced  through 
the  agency  of  living  people  —  even  in  health  —  was  proved 
by  the  experiments  conducted  by  Mr.  S.  H.  B.  as  recorded 
in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  vol.  i.,  pp.  104-9,  and  in  Human 
Personality,  vol.  i.,  p.  293.  This  gentleman  willed  himself 
or  rather  his  phantom  to  appear  to  two  ladies,  without  their 
knowing  of  the  experiment;  and  he  succeeded  in  his  intention. 
They  both  saw  him  simultaneously,  though  he  did  not  sec 
them,  and  his  appearance  was  as  of  one  in  evening  dress 
wandering  aimlessly  about  their  room,  after  the  traditional 
manner  of  "  ghosts."  This  experimental  production  of  a 


APPARITIONS  107 

ghost  is  a  particularly  instructive  case;  and  many  ghostly 
appearances  belong  to  living  people,  who  are  usually  uncon- 
scious that  they  are  producing  any  such  effect.  There  ap- 
pears to  be  no  reason  why  an  apparition  should  always  be 
of  a  deceased  person.  But  whether  every  apparition  is  of 
this  unsubstantial  and  purely  subjective  order,  or  whether  a 
few  proceed  to  a  further  degree  of  reality  and  belong  to 
what  are  sometimes  spoken  of  as  incipient  materialisation, 
I  do  not  at  this  stage  even  discuss.  It  is  sufficient  to  indicate 
that  a  true  hypothesis  does  not  close  the  door  to  other  and 
more  extended  ones,  if  the  first  is  found  incompetent  to  ex- 
plain all  the  facts. 

For,  the  convenient  analogy  of  conscious  and  purposed 
Thought-transference  must  not  be  pressed  too  far.  Our 
phenomena  break  through  any  attempt  to  group  them  under 
heads  of  purposely  transferred  impression;  and  the  words 
Telasthesia  and  Telepathy  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Myers 
to  cover  all  cases  of  impression  received  at  a  distance  without 
the  normal  operation  of  the  recognised  sense  organs. 

These  general  terms  are  found  of  permanent  service;  but 
as  regards  what  is  for  the  present  included  under  them,  we 
must  limit  and  arrange  our  material  rather  with 'an  eye  to 
convenience,  than  with  any  belief  that  our  classification  will 
ultimately  prove  a  fundamental  one.  No  true  demarcation, 
in  fact,  can  as  yet  be  made  between  one  class  of  those  ex- 
periences and  another;  we  need  the  record  of  as  many  and 
as  diverse  phenomena  as  we  can  get,  if  we  are  to  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  deal  satisfactorily  with  any  one  of  them. 

The  popular  term  "  ghost  "  may  cover  a  wide  range  of 
essentially  different  phenomena,  and  the  hallucinatory  but 
veridical  kind  of  apparition  which  has  no  particular  connec- 
tion with  any  particular  place,  is  the  best  established  and 
commonest  variety. 


io8  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

HAUNTINGS 

The  kind  of  ghost  associated  with  a  place  —  say  a  room, 
—  and  seen  by  any  one  who  happens  to  sleep  in  that  room, 
provided  he  is  fairly  wakeful  and  not  too  case-hardened 
against  weird  influences,  constitutes  a  difficult  and  at  present 
somewhat  unsatisfactory  region  of  inquiry.  The  evidence 
for  the  existence  of  this  "  fixed  local  "  kind  of  apparition  is 
strong,  but  hardly  conclusive;  and  this  kind  is  not  included 
among  those  called  "  phantasms  of  the  living  "  nor  among 
hallucinations  due  to  telepathy  from  the  injured  or  dying. 

The  Society  has  not  had  the  opportunity  of  investigating 
so-called  haunted  houses  in  any  considerable  number;  and 
many  of  such  cases  —  even  when  reported  —  resolve  them- 
selves merely  into  uncanny  noises  such  as  may  be  accounted 
for  in  one  of  a  great  many  different  ways.  I  would  not  be 
understood  as  expressing  any  opinion  as  to  the  actual  occur- 
rence of  this  class  of  phantom  —  our  study  of  it  as  yet  has 
been  insufficient, —  but  of  the  occurrence  of  or  visions  which 
coincide  fairly  in  time  with  some  severe  shock  to  the  per- 
son represented,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  entertain  a 
doubt.  The  evidence  must  certainly  depend  on  human  testi- 
mony, but  immense  trouble  has  been  taken  to  collect  such 
testimony  over  a  wide  range  of  persons,  to  sift  and  examine 
and  test  it  by  every  means  in  our  power,  and  then  to  record 
it  in  volumes  accessible  to  the  public.  Those  who  have  been 
chiefly  occupied  for  years  in  this  work  are  able  to  testify 
concerning  it  as  follows : — 

We  have  thus  accumulated  a  great  body  of  testimony 
which  it  is  impossible  to  overlook  or  to  discard.  These 
facts  form  a  foundation  for  the  beginning  of  knowledge 
concerning  them. 

Our  evidence  is  ro  shifting  shadow,  which  it  may  be 


APPARITIONS  109 

left  to  individual  taste  or  temperament  to  interpret,  but 
more  resembles  a  solid  mass  seen  in  twilight  which  men  may 
indeed  avoid  stumbling  over,  but  only  by  resolutely  walking 
away  from  it.  And  when  the  savant  thus  deserts  the  field, 
the  ordinary  man  needs  to  have  the  nature  and  true  amount 
of  the  testimony  far  more  directly  brought  home  to  him,  than 
is  necessary  in  realms  already  mastered  by  specialists  to 
whose  dicta  he  may  defer.  Failing  this  direct  contact  with 
the  facts,  the  vaguely  fascinated  regard  of  the  ordinary 
public  is,  for  all  scientific  purposes,  as  futile  as  the  savant's 
determined  avoidance.  Knowledge  can  never  grow  until 
it  is  realised  that  the  question  "  Do  you  believe  in  these 
things?"  is  puerile  unless  it  has  been  preceded  by  the  in- 
quiry, "  What  do  you  know  about  them?  " 

For,  in  fact,  this  subject  is  at  present  very  much  in  the 
position  which  zoology  and  botany  occupied  in  the  time  of 
Aristotle,  or  nostology  in  the  time  of  Hippocrates.  Aristotle 
had  no  zoological  gardens  or  methodical  treatises  to  refer 
to;  he  was  obliged  to  go  down  to  the  fish-market,  to  hear 
whatever  the  sailors  could  tell,  and  look  at  whatever  they 
could  bring  him.  This  spirit  of  omnivorous  inquiry  no 
doubt  exposed  him  to  hearing  much  that  was  exaggerated  or 
untrue;  but  plainly  the  science  of  zoology  could  not  have 
been  upbuilt  without  it.  Diseases  afford  a  still  more  strik- 
ing parallel  to  the  phenomena  of  which  we  are  in  quest. 
Men  of  science  are  wont  to  make  it  an  objection  to  this 
quest  that  phenomena  cannot  be  reproduced  under  our  own 
conditions  or  at  our  own  time.  The  looseness  of  thought 
here  exhibited  by  men  ordinarily  clear-headed  is  surely  a 
striking  example  of  the  prepotence  of  prejudice  over  educa- 
tion. Will  the  objectors  assert  that  all  aberrations  of 
function  and  degenerations  of  tissue  are  reproducible  by 
direct  experiment?  Can  physicians  secure  a  case  of  cancer 
or  Addison's  disease  by  any  previous  arrangement  of  con- 
ditions ?  Our  science  is  by  no  means  the  only  one  concerned 
with  phenomena  which  are  at  present  to  a  large  extent  irre- 
producible:  all  the  sciences  of  life  are  still  within  that 
category,  and  all  sciences  whatever  were  in  it  once. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TELEPATHY  FROM  AN  IMMATERIAL  REGION 

THE  phenomenon  upon  a  consideration  of  which  we 
shall  shortly  enter  is  that  exhibited  in  several  forms 
and  known  under  various  names,  of  which  the 
simplest  perhaps  is  automatic  writing  —  that  is,  writing  ex- 
ecuted independently  of  the  full  knowledge  and  conscious- 
ness of  the  operator  —  the  hand  acting  in  obedience  either 
to  some  unconscious  portion  of  the  operator's  mind,  or  else 
responding  to  some  other  psychical  influence  more  or  less  dis- 
tinct from  both  his  normal  and  his  hypernormal  personality. 
Sometimes  it  takes  the  form  not  of  writing,  but  of  uncon- 
scious speech;  and  occasionally  the  person  whose  hand  or 
voice  is  being  used  is  himself  completely  entranced  and  un- 
conscious for  one  or  two  hours  together.  There  is  evidently 
a  great  deal  to  be  learned  about  this  phenomenon,  and  many 
surmises  are  legitimate  respecting  it,  but  it  is  useless  and 
merely  ignorant  to  deny  its  occurrence.  It  is  often  quite 
clear  that  parts  of  the  writings  or  speech  so  obtained  do 
not  represent  the  normal  knowledge  of  the  automatist;  but 
whence  the  information  is  derived  is  uncertain,  and  probably 
in  different  cases  the  source  is  different.  The  simplest  as- 
sumption, and  one  that  covers  perhaps  a  majority  of  the 
facts,  is  that  the  writer's  unconscious  intelligence  or  sub- 
liminal self  —  his  dream  or  genius  stratum  —  is  at  work  — 
that  he  is  in  a  condition  of  unconscious  and  subliminal 
lucidity,  and  subject  to  a  sort  of  hyperaesthesia. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  in  order  to  achieve  remark- 
no 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  in 

able  results  in  any  department  of  intellectual  activity,  the 
mind  must  be  to  some  extent  unaware  of  passing  occurrences. 
To  be  keenly  awake  and  "  on  the  spot  "  is  a  highly  valued 
accomplishment,  and  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  mundane 
affairs  is  a  far  more  useful  state  of  mind  than  the  rather 
hazy  and  absorbed  condition  which  is  associated  with  the 
quality  of  mind  called  genius;  but  it  is  not  as  effective  for 
brilliant  achievement. 

When  a  poet  or  musician  or  mathematician  feels  himself 
inspired,  his  senses  are  —  at  least  his  commonplace  and  non- 
relevant  attention  is  —  dulled  or  half  asleep ;  and  though 
probably  some  part  of  his  brain  is  in  a  state  of  great  activity, 
I  am  not  aware  of  any  experiments  directed  to  test  which 
that  part  is,  nor  whether,  when  in  that  state,  any  of  the  more 
ordinarily  used  portions  are  really  dormant  or  no.  It  would 
be  interesting,  but  difficult,  to  ascertain  the  precise  physio- 
logical accompaniments  of  that  which  on  a  small  scale  is 
called  a  brown  study,  and  on  a  larger  scale  a  period  of  inspi- 
ration. 

It  does  not  seem  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  state 
is  somewhat  allied  to  the  initial  condition  of  anaesthesia  — 
the  somnambulic  condition  in  which,  though  the  automatic 
processes  of  the  body  go  on  with  greater  perfection  than 
usual,  the  conscious  or  noticing  aspect  of  the  mind  is  latent, 
so  that  the  things  which  influence  the  person  are  apparently 
no  longer  the  ordinary  events  which  affect  his  peripheral 
organs,  but  either  something  internal  or  else  something  not 
belonging  to  the  ordinarily  known  physical  universe  at  all. 

The  mind  is  always  in  a  receptive  state,  perhaps,  but 
whereas  the  business-like  wide-awake  person  receives  impres- 
sions from  every  trivial  detail  of  his  physical  surroundings, 
the  half-asleep  person  seems  to  receive  impressions  from  a 
different  stratum  altogether;  higher  in  some  instances,  lower 


ii2  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

in  some  instances,  but  different  always  from  those  received 
by  ordinary  men  in  their  every-day  state. 

In  a  man  of  genius  the  state  comes  on  of  itself,  and  the 
results  are  astounding.  There  are  found  occasionally  feeble 
persons,  usually  young,  who  seek  to  attain  to  the  appearance 
of  genius  by  the  easy  process  of  assuming  or  encouraging  an 
attitude  of  vacancy  and  uselessness.  There  may  be  all  grades 
of  result  attained  while  in  this  state,  and  the  state  itself  is  of 
less  than  no  value  unless  it  is  justified  by  the  results. 

By  experiment  and  observation  it  has  now  been  established 
that  a  state  not  altogether  dissimilar  to  this  can  be  induced 
by  artificial  means,  e.  g.,  by  drugs,  by  hypnosis,  by  crystal 
gazing,  by  purposed  inattention;  and  also  that  a  receptive 
or  clairvoyant  condition  occurs  occasionally  without  provo- 
cation, during  sleep  and  during  trance.  All  these  states 
seem  to  some  extent  allied,  and,  as  is  well  known,  Mr. 
Myers  has  elaborated  their  relationship  in  his  series  of 
articles  on  the  subliminal  consciousness. 

Well  now,  the  question  arises,  What  is  the  source  of  the 
intelligence  manifested  during  epochs  of  clairvoyant  lucidity, 
as  sometimes  experienced  in  the  hypnotic  or  the  somnambulic 
state,  or  during  trance,  or  displayed  automatically? 

The  most  striking  cases  of  which  I  am  now  immediately 
or  mediately  cognisant,  are  the  trance  state  of  Mrs.  Piper, 
and  the  automatism  of  such  writers  as  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Mrs. 
Holland.  Without  any  apparent  lulling  of  attention  at  all 
I  am  experimentally  assured  of  the  possibility  of  conveyr 
ing  information  between  one  mind  and  another  without  the 
aid  of  ordinary  sense  organs;  but  the  cases  mentioned  are 
especially*  striking  and  will  serve  to  narrow  the  field  to  what 
after  all  may  be  considered  at  present  the  main  points. 

Mrs.  Piper  in  the  trance  state  is  undoubtedly  (I  use  the 
word  in  the  strongest  sense ;  I  have  absolutely  no  more  doubt 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  113 

on  the  subject  than  I  have  of  my  friends'  ordinary  knowledge 
of  me  and  other  men), —  Mrs.  Piper's  trance  personality  is 
undoubtedly  aware  of  much  to  which  she  has  no  kind  of 
ordinarily  recognised  clue,  and  of  which  in  her  ordinary  state 
she  knows  nothing.  But  how  does  she  get  this  knowledge? 
She  herself  when  in  the  trance  state  asserts  that  she  gets 
it  by  conversing  with  the  deceased  friends  and  relatives  of 
people  present.  And  that  this  is  a  genuine  opinion  of  hers, 
i.e.,  that  the  process  feels  like  that  to  her  unconscious  or  sub- 
conscious mind  —  the  part  of  her  which  used  to  call  itself 
Phinuit  and  now  calls  itself  "  Rector  " —  I  am  fully  prepared 
to  believe.  But  that  does  not  carry  us  very  far  towards  a 
knowledge  of  what  the  process  actually  is. 

Conversation  implies  speaking  with  the  mouth, —  and 
when  receiving  or  asking  information  she  is  momentarily  in 
a  deeper  slumber,  and  not  occupied  in  normal  speech.  At 
times,  indeed,  slight  mutterings  of  one-sided  questions  and  re- 
plies are  heard,  or  are  written,  very  like  the  mutterings  of 
a  person  in  sleep  undergoing  a  vivid  dream. 

Dream  is  certainly  the  ordinary  person's  nearest  approach 
to  the  entranced  condition;  and  the  fading  of  recollection  as 
the  conscious  memory  returns  is  also  parallelled  by  the  waking 
of  Mrs.  Piper  out  of  the  trance.  But,  instead  of  a  nearly 
passive  dream,  it  is  more  nearly  allied  to  the  somnambulic 
state ;  though  the  activity,  far  from  being  chiefly  locomotory, 
is  mainly  mental  and  only  partially  muscular. 

She  is  in  a  state  of  somnambulism  in  which  the  mind  is 
more  active  than  the  body;  and  the  activity  is  so  different 
from  her  ordinary  activity,  she  is  so  distinctly  a  different  sort 
of  person,  that  she  quite  appropriately  calls  herself  by  another 
name. 

It  is  natural  to  ask,  Is  she  still  herself?  But  it  is. a  ques- 
tion difficult  to  answer,  unless  "  herself  "  be  defined.  It  is 


ii4  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

her  mouth  that  is  speaking,  or  her  hand  which  is  writing,  and 
I  suppose  her  brain  and  nerves  are  working  the  muscles ;  but 
they  are  not  worked  in  the  customary  way,  nor  does  the  mind 
manifested  thereby  at  all  resemble  her  mind.  Until,  how- 
ever, the  meaning  of  identity  can  be  accurately  specified,  I 
find  it  difficult  to  discuss  the  question  whether  she  or  another 
person  is  really  speaking. 

On  this  point  the  waking  experience  of  Mrs.  Newnham  — 
an  automatic  writer  quoted  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  vol. 
i.  p.  63  —  is  of  assistance.  In  her  case  the  hand  wrote  mat- 
ter not  in  the  writer's  mind  and  which  she  did  not  feel  that 
she  was  writing.  Her  hand  wrote  while  she  was  taking 
the  attention  of  her  own  conscious  mind  away  from  her  hand 
and  letting  it  be  guided  by  her  subconscious  or  by  some  other 
mind. 

The  instructive  feature  about  this  case  was  that  the  minds 
apparently  influencing  the  hand  were  not  so  much  those  of 
dead  as  of  living  people.  The  advantage  of  this  was  that 
they  could  be  catechised  afterwards  about  their  share  in  the 
transaction;  and  it  then  appeared  that  they  either  knew 
nothing  about  it  or  were  surprised  at  it;  for  though  the 
communications  did  correspond  to  something  in  their 
minds,  it  did  not  represent  anything  of  which  they  were 
consciously  thinking,  and  was  only  a  very  approximate  ren< 
dering  of  what  they  might  be  wishing  to  convey.  They  did 
not  seem  able  to  exercise  control  over  the  messages,  any  more 
than  untrained  people  can  control  their  thoughts  in  dreams. 
But  we  must  not  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  this  will  always 
be  the  case;  that  the  connexion  is  never  reciprocally  con- 
scious, as  when  two  persons  are  talking;  but  it  shows  that  at 
any  rate  it  need  not  be  so.  Since  the  living  communicant  is 
not  aware  of  what  is  being  dictated,  so  the  dead  person  need 
not  be  consciously  operative;  and  thus  conceivably  the  hand 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  115 

of  the  automatist  may  be  influenced  by  minds  other  than  his 
own,  minds  both  living  and  dead  (by  one  apparently  as 
readily  as  by  the  other),  but  not  by  a  conscious  portion  of 
the  mind  of  any  one;  by  the  subconscious  or  dreamy  portion, 
if  by  any  portion  at  all. 

When  Phinuit,  then,  or  Mrs.  Piper  in  the  trance  state,  re- 
ports conversations  which  she  has  had  with  other  minds  (usu- 
ally in  Phinuit's  case  with  persons  deceased),  and  even  when 
the  voice  changes  and  messages  come  apparently  from  those 
very  people  themselves,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  them- 
selves are  necessarily  aware  of  the  fact,  nor  need  their  con- 
scious mind  (if  they  have  any)  be  active  in  the  process. 

The  signature  of  an  automatist's  hand  is  equivalent  to  the 
assertion  that  Miss  X.,  for  instance,  is  deliberately  writing; 
Phinuit's  statement  is  equally  an  assertion  that  Mr.  E.  is 
deliberately  speaking;  and  the  one  statement  may  be  no  more 
a  lie  than  the  other  is  a  forgery,  and  yet  neither  need  be  what 
is  ordinarily  called  "  true." 

That  this  community  of  mind  or  possibility  of  distant  inter- 
change or  one-sided  reception  of  thoughts  exists,  is  to  me 
perfectly  clear  and  certain.  I  venture  further  to  say  that 
persons  who  deny  the  bare  fact,  expressed  as  I  here  wish  to 
express  it  without  any  hypothesis,  are  simply  ignorant.  They 
have  not  studied  the  facts  of  the  subject.  It  may  be  for  lack 
of  opportunity,  it  may  be  for  lack  of  inclination;  they  are  by 
no  means  bound  to  investigate  it  unless  they  choose ;  but  any 
dogmatic  denials  which  such  persons  may  now  perpetrate  will 
henceforth,  or  in  the  very  near  future,  redound  to  the  dis- 
credit, not  of  the  phenomena  thus  ignorantly  denied,  but  of 
themselves,  the  over-confident  and  presumptuous  deniers. 

We  must  not  too  readily  assume  that  the  apparent  action 
of  one  mind  on  another  is  really  such  an  action.  The  im- 
pression received  may  come  from  the  ostensible  agent,  but  it 


n6 

may  come  from  a  third  person;  or  again  it  may,  as  some 
think  more  likely,  come  from  a  central  mind  or  —  some 
Anima  Mundi, —  to  which  all  ordinary  minds  are  related  and 
by  which  they  are  influenced.  If  it  could  be  shown  that  the 
action  is  a  syntonic  or  sympathetic  connexion  between  a  pair 
of  minds,  then  it  might  be  surmised  that  the  action  is  a 
physical  one,  properly  to  be  expressed  as  occurring  directly 
between  brain  and  brain,  or  body  and  body.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  action  may  conceivably  be  purely  psychological, 
and  the  distant  brain  may  be  stimulated  not  by  the  inter- 
vention of  anything  physical  or  material  but  in  some  more 
immediate  manner, —  from  its  psychological  instead  of  from 
its  physiological  side. 

The  question  is  quite  a  definite  one  if  properly  expressed: 
Does  the  action  take  place  through  a  physical  medium,  or 
does  it  not? 

Guesses  at  a  priori  likelihood  are  worthless  ;  if  the  question 
is  to  be  answered  it  must  be  attacked  experimentally. 

Now  the  ordinary  way  in  which  A  communicates  with  B 
is  through  a  certain  physical  mechanism,  and  the  thought 
of  A  may  be  said  to  exist  for  a  finite  time  as  an  etherial  or 
aerial  quiver  before  it  reproduces  a  similar  thought  in  the 
mind  of  B.  We  have  got  so  accustomed  to  the  existence  of 
this  intermediate  physical  process  that  instead  of  striking 
us  as  roundabout  and  puzzling  it  appeals  to  us  as  natural 
and  simple;  and  any  more  direct  action  of  A  on  B,  without 
physical  mechanism,  is  scouted  as  absurd  or  at  least  violently 
improbable.  Well,  it  is  merely  a  question  of  fact,  and  per- 
haps it  is  within  the  range  of  a  crucial  experiment. 

But  it  may  be  at  once  admitted  that  such  an  experiment  is 
difficult  of  execution.  If  the  effect  is  a  physical  one  it  should 
vary  according  to  some  law  of  distance,  or  it  should  depend 
on  the  nature  of  the  intervening  medium;  but,  in  order  to 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  117 

test  whether  in  any  given  case  such  variation  occurs,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  both  agent  and  percipient  in  an  unusually 
dependable  condition,  and  they  should  if  possible  be  unaware 
of  the  variation  which  is  under  test. 

This  last  condition  is  desirable  because  of  the  sensitiveness 
of  the  sub-consciousness  to  suggestion:  self-suggestion  and 
other.  If  the  percipient  got  an  idea  that  distance  or  inter- 
posed screens  were  detrimental,  most  likely  they  would  be 
detrimental;  and  although  a  suggestion  might  be  artificially 
instilled  that  distance  was  advantageous,  this  would  hardly 
leave  the  test  quite  fair,  for  the  lessened  physical  stimulus 
might  perhaps  be  over-utilised  by  the  more  keenly  excited 
organism.  Still  that  is  an  experiment  to  be  tried  among 
others;  and  it  would  be  an  instructive  experience  if  the  agent 
some  day  was,  say,  in  India  when  the  percipient  thought  he 
was  in  London,  or  vice  versa. 

It  is  extremely  desirable  to  probe  this  question  of  a  physical 
or  non-physical  mode  of  communication  in  cases  of  telepathy; 
and  if  the  fact  can  be  established  beyond  doubt  that  sympa- 
thetic communication  occurs  between  places  as  distant  as 
India  or  America  and  England,  or,  the  terrestrial  antipodes, 
—  being  unfelt  between,  or  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
source, —  then  I  should  feel  that  this  was  so  unlike  what 
we  are  accustomed  to  in  Physics  that  I  should  be  strongly 
urged  to  look  to  some  other  and  more  direct  kind  of  mental 
relationship  as  the  clue.  Some  of  the  recent  experiments 
conducted  by  Miss  Miles  and  Miss  Ramsden  (Proc.,  vol. 
xxi.,  pp.  60—93)  tend  to  support^such  a  contention. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  question  on  which  crucial  experi- 
ments are  desirable  though  difficult. 

(i)    Is  the  mechanism  of  telepathy  physical  or  not? 

The  second  question  of  which  I  am  thinking  is  one  less 
easy  to  state  and  far  less  easy  (as  I  think)  to  resolve.  It 


u8  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

may  be  stated  thus,  in  two  parts,  or  as  two  separate  ques- 
tions : — 

(2)  Is  the  power  of  operating  on  the  minds  of  terrestrial 
persons  confined  to  living  terrestrial  people  ? 

(3)  Is  the  power  of  operating  on  or  interfering  with  the 
rest  of  the  physical  universe   confined  to   living  material 
bodies? 

I  should  conjecture  that  an  affirmative  answer  to  Question 

1  would  render  likely  an  affirmative  answer  to  Questions  2 
and  3  ;  but  that  a  negative  answer  to  Question  i  would  leave 

2  and  3  entirely  open,  because,  so  far  as  we  at  present  know, 
terrestrial  people,  and  people  with  material  bodies,  may  be 
the  only  people  who  exist. 

It  is  this  possibility,  or,  as  many  would  hold,  probability  or 
almost  certainty,  that  renders  the  strict  scientific  statement 
of  Questions  2  and  3  so  difficult.  Yet  they  are  questions 
which  must  be  faced,  and  they  ought  to  be  susceptible,  in 
time,  of  receiving  definite  answers. 

That  there  are  living  terrestrial  people  we  know ;  we  also 
know  that  there  is  an  immense  variety  of  other  terrestrial 
life; — though,  if  we  were  not  so  familiar  with  the  fact, 
the  luxuriant  prevalence  and  variety  of  life  would  be  sur- 
prising. The  existence  of  a  bat,  for  instance,  or  a  lobster, 
would  be  quite  incredible.  Whether  there  is  life  on  other 
planets  we  do  not  know,  and  whether  there  is  conscious 
existence  between  the  planets  we  do  not  know;  but  I  see  no 
a  priori  reason  for  making  scientific  assertions  on  the  subject 
one  way  or  the  other.  It  is  only  at  present  a  matter  of 
probability.  Just  because  we  know  that  the  earth  is  peopled 
with  an  immense  variety  of  living  beings,  I  myself  should 
rather  expect  to  find  other  regions  many-peopled,  and  with 
a  still  more  extraordinary  variety.  So  also  since  mental 
action  is  conspicuous  on  the  earth  I  should  expect  to  find 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  119 

it  existent  elsewhere.  If  life  is  necessarily  associated  with 
a  material  carcase,  then  no  doubt  the  surface  of  one  of  the 
many  planetary  masses  must  be  the  scene  of  its  activity;  but 
if  any  kind  of  mental  action  is  independent  of  material  or 
physical  environment,  then  it  may  conceivably  be  that  the 
psychical  population  is  not  limited  to  the  surface  of  material 
aggregates  or  globes  of  matter,  but  may  luxuriate  either  in 
the  interstellar  spaces  or  in  some  undimensional  form  of  ex- 
istence of  which  we  have  no  conception. 

Were  it  not  for  the  fact  of  telepathy  the  entire  question 
would  be  an  idle  one, —  a  speculation  based  on  nothing  and 
apparently  incapable  of  examination,  still  less  of  verification 
or  disproof.  But  granted  the  fact  of  telepathy  the  ques- 
tion ceases  to  be  an  idle  one,  because  it  is  just  possible  that 
these  other  intelligences,  if  they  in  any  sense  exist,  may  be 
able  to  communicate  with  us  by  the  same  sort  of  process  as 
that  by  which  we  are  now  learning  to  be  able  to  communicate 
with  each  other.  Whether  it  be  true  or  not,  it  has  been  con- 
stantly and  vehemently  asserted  as  a  fact  that  such  com- 
munications, mainly  from  deceased  relatives,  but  often  also 
from  strangers,  are  occasionally  received  by  living  persons. 

The  utterances  of  Phinuit,  the  handwriting  of  Miss  A, 
Mr.  Stainton  Moses,  and  others,  abound  with  communica- 
tions purporting  to  come  from  minds  not  now  associated 
with  terrestrial  matter. 

Very  well  then;  is  a  crucial  or  test  experiment  possible, 
to  settle  whether  this  claim  is  well  founded  or  not? 

Mere  sentimental  messages,  conveying  personal  traits  of 
the  deceased,  though  frequently  convincing  to  surviving 
friends,  cannot  be  allowed  much  scientific  weight.  Some- 
thing more  definite  or  generally  intelligible  must  be  sought. 

Of  such  facts  the  handwriting  of  the  deceased  person,  if 
reproduced  accurately  by  an  automatist  who  has  never  seen 


120  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

that  handwriting,  seems  an  exceptionally  good  test  if  it  can 
be  obtained.  But  the  negative  proof  of  ignorance  on  the 
part  of  the  writer  is  difficult. 

At  first  sight  facts  known  to  the  deceased  but  not  known 
to  the  automatist,  if  reported  in  a  correct  and  detailed 
manner  so  as  to  surpass  mere  coincidence,  would  seem  a 
satisfactory  test.  But  here  telepathy,  which  has  stood  us 
in  good  stead  so  far,  begins  to  operate  the  other  way;  for 
if  the  facts  are  known  to  nobody  on  earth  they  cannot  per- 
haps be  verified;  and  if  they  are  known  to  somebody  still 
alive  —  however  distant  he  may  be  —  it  is  necessary  to 
assume  it  possible  that  they  were  unconsciously  "  tel- 
epathed  "  from  his  mind. 

But  a  certain  class  of  facts  may  be  verified  without  the 
assistance  or  knowledge  of  any  living  person, —  as  when  a 
miser  having  died  with  the  sole  clue  to  a  deposit  of  "  val- 
uables," an  automatist's  hand,  over  the  miser's  signature, 
subsequently  describes  the  place ;  or  when  a  sealed  document, 
carefully  deposited,  is  posthumously  deciphered.  The  test  in 
either  of  these  cases  is  a  better  one.  But  still,  living 
telepathy  of  a  deferred  kind  is  not  excluded  (though  to 
my  thinking  it  is  rendered  extremely  improbable),  for,  as 
Mr.  Podmore  has  often  urged,  the  person  writing  the  docu- 
ment or  burying  the  treasure  may  have  been  ipso  facto  an 
unconscious  agent  on  the  minds  of  contemporaries. 

CASE  OF  APPARENTLY  POSTHUMOUS  ACTIVITY 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  this  kind,  and 
one  which  fortunately  received  the  attention  of  the  philoso- 
pher Kant,  is  one  in  which  Swedenborg  acted  as  the  Medium, 
and  is  thus  described  by  Kant  in  a  letter  published  as  an 
Appendix  to  his  cautious  little  book  on  clairvoyance  which 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  121 

has  been  translated  into  English  under  the  title,  Dreams  of  a 
Spirit  Seer. 

"Madame  Herteville  (Marteville),  the  widow  of  the  Dutch 
Ambassador  in  Stockholm,  some  time  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
was  called  upon  by  Croon,  a  goldsmith,  to  pay  for  a  silver  service 
which  her  husband  had  purchased  from  him.  The  widow  was 
convinced  that  her  late  husband  had  been  much  too  precise  and 
orderly  not  to  have  paid  this  debt,  yet  she  was  unable  to  find  this 
receipt.  In  her  sorrow,  and  because  the  amount  was  considerable, 
she  requested  Mr.  Swedenborg  to  call  at  her  house.  After  apologising 
to  him  for  troubling  him,  she  said  that  if,  as  all  people  say,  he  pos- 
sessed the  extraordinary  gift  of  conversing  with  the  souls  of  the 
departed,  he  would  perhaps  have  the  kindness  to  ask  her  husband  how 
it  was  about  the  silver  service.  Swedenborg  did  not  at  all  object  to 
comply  with  her  request.  Three  days  afterward  the  said  lady  had 
company  at  her  house  for  coffee.  Swedenborg  called,  and  in  his 
cool  way  informed  her  that  he  had  conversed  with  her  husband.  The 
debt  had  been  paid  several  months  before  his  decease,  and  the  receipt 
was  in  a  bureau  in  the  room  upstairs.  The  lady  replied  that  the 
bureau  had  been  quite  cleared  out,  and  that  the  receipt  was  not 
found  among  all  the  papers.  Swedenborg  said  that  her  husband  had 
described  to  him,  how  after  pulling  out  the  lefthand  drawer  a  board 
would  appear,  which  required  to  be  drawn  out,  when  a  secret  com- 
partment would  be  disclosed,  containing  his  private  Dutch  corre- 
spondence, as  well  as  the  receipt.  Upon  hearing  this  description  the 
whole  company  arose  and  accompanied  the  lady  into  the  room  up- 
stairs. The  bureau  was  opened ;  they  did  as  they  were  directed ;  the 
compartment  was  found,  of  which  no  one  had  ever  known  before; 
and  to  the  great  astonishment  of  all,  the  papers  were  discovered 
there,  in  accordance  with  his  description." 

It  is  difficult  to  attribute  this  apparently  posthumous 
activity  to  deferred  telepathy  from  the  living  burgomaster 
—  i.  e.,  deferred  from  the  time  when  he  was  engaged  in 
storing  the  papers  —  perhaps  still  more  in  this  case  because 


122  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

they  were  not  stored  with  any  view  of  subsequently  disclos- 
ing their  hiding  place.  Postponement  of  the  apparently 
posthumous  action  for  more  than  a  century,  so  that  all  con- 
temporaries are  necessarily  dead,  strains  this  sort  of 
telepathic  explanation  still  more  —  in  fact  to  breaking  point; 
but  such  an  event  is  hardly  within  the  reach  of  purposed  ex- 
periment. The  storage  of  objects  or  messages  is;  and  re- 
sponsible people  ought  to  write  and  deposit  specific  docu- 
ments, for  the  purpose  of  posthumously  communicating  them 
to  some  one  if  they  can;  taking  all  reasonable  precautions 
against  fraud  and  collusion,  and  also, —  which  is  perhaps  a 
considerable  demand, —  taking  care  that  they  do  not  forget 
the  contents  themselves. 

That  such  forgetfulness  is  extremely  probable  has  always 
strongly  presented  itself  to  my  mind  and  has  been  of  force 
sufficient  to  prevent  my  depositing  any  of  these  documents 
with  my  friends.  I  am  sure  that  I  should  forget  their  con- 
tents —  forget  even  that  I  had  written  anything  —  and  if 
reminded  should  be  hopelessly  confused  as  to  which  sentence 
I  had  placed  in  which  envelope. 

That  the  test  may  fail,  owing  either  to  this  or  to  some 
other  reason,  is  manifested  by  the  following  record  —  which 
has  already  been  more  than  sufficiently  published  and  has 
become  well  known.  As  a  negative  experiment  however  it 
is  my  business  not  to  slur  it  over  in  any  way,  so  I  reproduce 
the  judicial  statement  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society. 

OPENING  OF  AN  ENVELOPE  CONTAINING  A  POSTHUMOUS  NOTE 
LEFT  BY  MR.  MYERS 

On  December  13th,  1904,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  invited  the  Members 
of  the  Council  and  a  few  other  Members  of  the  Society  to  the  Society's 
Rooms  at  20  Hanover  Square  to  witness  the  opening  of  a  sealed 
envelope  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by  Mr.  Myers  in  January 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  123 

1891    (nearly  fourteen  years  ago),  in  the  hope  that  after  his  death 
its  contents  might  be  given  by  communication  through  some  medium. 

It  had  been  decided  to  open  it  because  various  statements  made 
in  Mrs.  Verrall's  automatic  script  during  the  last  three  years  had  led 
her  to  infer  that  it  contained  a  certain  phrase.  The  apparent  refer- 
ences to  this  posthumous  note  had  begun  vaguely,  and  gradually 
developed,  with  some  repetition,  into  what  seemed  to  be  a  clear  and 
definite  statement  of  what  was  contained  in  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's 
envelope.  The  references  to  the  envelope  purported  to  come  from 
Mr.  Myers,  and  were  mixed  up  with  writing,  some  of  which  ap- 
peared to  be  veridical,  relating  to  other  topics,  especially  with  a 
statement  —  written  before  the  publication  of  Human  Personality 
—  that  a  certain  passage  would  be  found  in  that  book  when  pub- 
lished. This  having  been  verified,  it  was  hoped  that  the  account 
given  by  the  script  of  the  contents  of  the  envelope  might  turn  out 
equally  correct. 

The  meeting  was  summoned  by  a  circular,  of  which  the  annexed 
is  a  copy: — 

Marlemont,  Edgbaston,  December,    1904 

It  is  probably  known  to  you  that  some  years  ago  F.  W.  H.  Myers 
deposited  with  me  an  envelope  containing  some  sort  of  writing  or 
message,  to  be  posthumously  deciphered  if  possible. 

It  is  also  known  to  you  that  Mrs.  Verrall  developed  the  faculty  of 
automatic  writing  soon  after  Myers's  death.  It  now  appears  that 
she  believes  herself  to  have  received  messages  or  indications  as  to 
the  contents  of  this  envelope.  This  impression  of  hers  may,  of 
course,  be  mistaken,  but  the  advantage  of  it  is  that  it  is  definite,  and 
she  is  able  to  put  into  writing  what  she  thinks  the  contents  of  the 
envelope  will  be  found  to  be. 

That  being  so,  I  have  taken  advice,  and  find  a  general  consensus 
of  opinion  that  it  is  time  now  to  open  the  envelope  and  verify  or 
disprove  the  agreement;  or,  if  there  is  partial  agreement,  to  ascertain 
its  amount. 

The  envelope  has  been  for  some  time  deposited  in  a  bank,  but  I 
propose  to  have  it  handed  back  to  me  some  time  this  week,  and  to 
bring  it  up  to  London  on  Tuesday,  December  I3th,  and  then,  at 


124  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

4  p.m.,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  20 
Hanover  Square,  after  making  a  statement  regarding  it  and  reading 
Mrs.  Verrall's  statement  of  what  she  believes  to  be  in  it,  to  open  it 
in  the  presence  of  a  sufficient  number  of  witnesses.  I  do  not  pro- 
pose to  do  it  at  a  Council  meeting,  because  I  think  it  desirable  that 
one  or  two  outsiders  should  be  present,  inasmuch  as  I  wish  the 
event  to  be  known  and  "counted,"  whether  it  turn  out  successful 
or  the  reverse.  The  only  way  to  avoid  chance  coincidence  is  to 
determine  beforehand  whether  any  given  event  shall  "  count "  or 
not;  and,  subject  to  anything  that  may  happen  between  now  and 
then,  I  propose  that  this  shall  count,  and  that  the  envelope  shall 
then  be  opened. 

I  invite  you,  therefore,  if  you  think  fit,  to  come  to  the  rooms  of 
the  Society  on  Tuesday,  December  I3th,  at  4  p.m. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  proceedings  are  confidential,  and 
that  the  question  of  subsequent  publication  must  be  reserved  for  the 
Council  of  the  Society.  OLIVER  LODGE. 

Mrs.  Verrall  first  reported  to  the  meeting  the  conclusions  she  had 
been  led  to  form  concerning  the  envelope  from  her  own  script,  and 
read  the  apparently  relevant  passages.  On  the  envelope  being  opened, 
however,  it  was  found  that  there  was  no  resemblance  between  its 
actual  contents  and  what  was  alleged  by  the  script  to  be  contained 
in  it. 

It  has,  then,  to  be  reported  that  this  one  experiment  com- 
pletely failed,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  failure  is 
disappointing.  But  after  all,  even  if  this  communication 
of  the  contents  of  a  sealed  envelope  had  been  successfully 
achieved,  the  proof  to  us  of  mental  action  on  the  part  of 
the  deceased  "  agent  "  would  still  be  incomplete,  for  it  may 
be  that  telepathy  is  not  the  right  kind  of  explanation  of  these 
things  at  all ;  it  may  be  that  they  are  done  —  if  ever  they  arc 
done  —  by  clairvoyance ;  that  the  document,  though  still 
sealed  or  enclosed  in  metal,  is  read  in  some  unknown  or 
fourth-dimensional  manner  by  the  subliminal  self. 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  125 

The  existence  of  such  a  power  as  this,  however,  can  be 
separately  tested;  because,  if  straightforward  clairvoyance 
is  possible,  things  unknown  to  any  person  living  or  dead  may 
be  read  or  inspected, —  such  as  a  piece  of  print  torn  at 
random  out  of  an  unread  newspaper  and  sealed  up,  or  a 
handful  of  alphabet  letters  or  figures  grasped  from  a  box. 
(Proc.  S.  P.  R.,  vi.,  494.)  And  in  trying  this  experiment 
a  negative  conclusion  must  not  be  jumped  at  too  readily. 
A  positive  answer  might  be  definite  enough;  a  negative 
answer  can  only  be  a  probability.  Moreover,  it  would  per- 
haps be  unwise  to  tell  an  automatist  who  is  endeavouring  to 
decipher  the  unknown  figures  that  in  that  collocation  they 
have  never  been  inspected  by  man, —  the  knowledge  might 
act  as  a  gratuitously  hostile  or  debilitating  suggestion. 

But  even  when  such  things  are  read,  allowance  must  be 
made  for  some  extraordinary  possibility  of  hyperaesthesia  — 
whether  it  be  that  of  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  person  who 
sealed  them  up,  or  of  a  kind  of  X-ray  vision  on  the  part 
of  the  clairvoyant,  or  some  other  even  more  forced  hypothe- 
sis. Mrs.  Sidgwick's  paper  on  the  evidence  for  real  clair- 
voyance is  in  the  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vii.,  but  I  will  not 
quote  any  of  the  instances  there  given.  The  term  clair- 
voyance ought  strictly  to  be  reserved  for  direct  apprehension 
of  hidden  things  without  aid  from  any  human  knowledge, 
but  in  common  practise  the  term  is  often  applied  also  to  the 
more  numerous  cases  when  some  kind  of  telepathy  is 
possible,  provided  the  circumstances  are  such  as  to  make  a 
sensitive  kind  of  direct  perception  not  altogether  improbable. 
If  telepathy  ever  occurs  from  a  supra-mundane  and  im- 
material region,  that  is  to  say  from  a  discarnate  mind  not 
possessed  of  a  brain,  it  may  be  difficult  or  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  clairvoyance.  And  indeed  probably  no 
discrimination  would  be  necessary:  that  may  be  what 


126  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

"  second-sight "  or  clairvoyance  really  is.  But  from  the 
scientific  point  of  view  there  is  clearly  all  the  difference  in 
the  world  between  recognised  telepathy,  such  as  has  been 
proved  to  occur  between  one  living  person  and  another,  and 
that  other  more  hypothetical  kind  which  has  been  suspected 
as  occurring  between  discarnate  intelligences,  if  there  are 
any,  and  living  people.  If  the  process  of  ordinary  experi- 
mental telepathy  were  ever  ascertained  to  be  a  direct  action 
of  brain  on  brain,  then  acceptance  of  the  other  more 
hypothetical  kind  of  telepathy  would  be  almost  forbidden  — 
at  any  rate  would  be  rendered  extremely  difficult.  If  how- 
ever the  process  of  transmission  should  turn  out  to  be  a 
purely  psychical  one, —  that  is  a  psychological  action 
directly  between  mind  and  mind,  so  that  the  brains  at  each 
end  are  only  the  instruments  of  record  and  verification, — 
then  the  possibility  of  a  transfer  of  thought,  between  minds 
unprovided  with  these  appliances  —  or  between  one  such 
mind  and  an  embodied  mind  —  is  not  at  all  inconceivable. 
It  still  has  to  be  established,  of  course,  and  the  difficulty 
of  proof  is  still  very  great;  but  the  effort  towards  such  a 
proof  is  a  legitimate  one.  It  is  that  effort  which  for  some 
years  now  the  Society  has  been  patiently  making,  and  some 
of  the  results  so  far  attained  will  be  dealt  with  in  Section 
IV.  The  distinction  here  drawn,  between  a  comparatively 
customary,  and  what  may  strike  us  as  a  more  recondite  and 
unexpected  method  of  communication,  may  be  illustrated  by 
reference  to  the  facts  of  telegraphy: — 

In  ordinary  telegraphy  the  message  manifestly  goes  some- 
how from  signalling  key  to  receiving  galvanometer;  and, 
if  attention  is  concentrated  upon  those  obvious  instruments 
alone,  it  might  be  thought  that  there  was  some  direct 
mechanical  connexion  between  them.  But  the  real  ar- 
rangement is  more  elaborate  than  that  —  a  battery  or 


IMMATERIAL  TELEPATHY  127 

dynamo  in  the  cellar  has  to  be  taken  into  account, —  and 
the  actual  process  of  transmission  involves  some  fairly  re- 
cently discovered  properties  of  the  ether  of  space.  The 
message  is  conveyed  etherially,  not  by  matter  at  all;  it  can 
cross  vacuum  with  perfect  ease,  though  it  is  sent  and  re- 
ceived and  interpreted  by  matter.  I  am  speaking  of 
ordinary  telegraphy;  there  is  no  need  to  distinguish  it  from 
"  wireless  "  in  this  particular. 

I  am  not  denying  of  course  that  telegraphic  transmission 
is  a  physical  process.  All  I  imply  by  the  parable  is  that 
the  first  impression  of  a  spectator  or  critic,  that  telepathy 
is  a  physiological  process  effected  direct  between  brain  and 
brain,  may  not  be  the  correct  one.  For  telegraphy  had  been 
carried  on  commercially  for  years,  before  it  was  properly 
understood;  and  even  now  there  must  remain  many  things 
to  be  discovered  about  it.  So  that  it  is  hardly  likely  that 
in  telepathy  we  have  a  process  which  is  easily  and  quickly 
intelligible;  nor  is  it  in  the  least  certain  that  the  mode  of 
transmission  can  be  stated  in  terms  of  matter.  Perhaps  it 
cannot  be  stated  even  in  terms  of  ether.  The  whole  idea 
or  imagery  of  space-relations  in  respect  of  mind  may  be 
misleading. 


CHAPTER   IX 

EXAMPLES  OF  APPARENT  CLAIRVOYANCE 

TO  show  that  some  apparent  clairvoyance,  whether  it 
be  due  to  hyperaestehsia  or  telepathy  or  something 
else,  is  really  possible,  I  take  an  instructive  little 
experiment  recorded  by  Mrs.  Verrall  in  Proceedings,  vol. 
xi.,  p.  192  —  which  she  tried  in  November  1890  with  her 
daughter  who  was  then  a  child  aged  7^2  years.     Other  in- 
stances will  be  mentioned  later  on. 

RECOGNITION  OF  OBJECTS  BY  TELEPATHY  OR  HYPER^STHESIA. 
PERCIPIENT,  H.  AGED  iy2  YEARS 

Mrs.  Verrall  reports  as  follows: — 

In  November,  1890,  I  tried  the  following  experiment  with  H.  I 
drew  a  diagram,  which  I  placed  on  H.'s  forehead,  while  her  eyes 
were  shut,  and  asked  her  to  describe  it.  To  make  the  performance 
more  like  a  game,  I  went  on  to  ask  what  colour  it  was,  and  what 
she  could  see  through  it.  We  tried  four  experiments,  three  on  the 
afternoon  of  November  i6th,  and  one  at  6.15  on  November  3Oth, 
with  the  following  results: — 
Object  drawn. —  A  triangle. 

Result. —  H.  drew  a  triangle  with  her  finger  in  the  air.    Right. 
Object  drawn. —  A  triangle  with  apex  cut  off. 
Result. —  H.  described  and  drew  an  irregular  figure,  which  did 
not  seem  to  satisfy  her,  then  said  it  was  like  an  oval  dish 
Wrong. 

Object  drawn. —  A  square. 

Result. —  H.  said:     "  It's  like  a  window  with  no  cross  bars,"  and 
drew  a  four-sided  rectangular  figure  in  the  air.    Right. 

128 


EXAMPLES  129 

Object  drawn. —  A  square  divided  into  4  squares  by  a  vertical 
and  a  horizontal  line. 

Result.—  H.  said:  "It's  a  diamond."  "What  else?"  said  I, 
meaning  what  colour,  etc.  "  It's  got  a  line  across  it,  and  an- 
other across  that.  [Right.']  The  colour  is  pale  blue." 

When  I  gave  her  the  diagram,  she  turned  it  anglewise  and  said, 
"  Oh  yes,  that's  right,  and  the  colour  was  not  far  wrong."  As  the 
diagram  was  drawn  in  ink  on  white  paper,  I  did  not  understand,  and 
asked  what  she  meant.  She  said,  "  Why,  it's  all  blue,  bluish  white 
inside,  and  even  the  ink  is  blue."  The  diagram  had  been  dried  with 
blotting  paper  and  was  not  a  very  deep  black,  but  I  could  see  nothing 
blue.  Ten  minutes  afterwards  she  picked  up  the  paper  again  and 
commented  on  the  fact  that  it  was  blue,  the  lines  dark  bright  blue, 
and  the  inside  pale  blue.  I  burnt  the  diagram  and  discontinued  the 
game  after  observing  this  persistence  of  a  self-suggested  hallucination. 

We  had  previously  tried  experiments  which  seemed  to  show  that 
the  child  could  feel  the  diagram.  She  could  almost  always  tell 
whether  the  right  or  wrong  side  of  a  playing  card  were  placed  on 
her  forehead.  I  was  quite  unable  to  distinguish  the  two  sides.  I 
am  more  inclined  to  attribute  her  successes  (3  out  of  4)  to  hyperaes- 
thesia  than  to  telepathy. 

I  will  now  quote  a  case  which  is  rather  a  striking  example 
of  the  fact  that  the  intelligence  operative  through  uncon- 
scious or  subliminal  processes  is  superior  to  that  of  the 
normal  intelligence  of  the  persons  concerned,  so  that  just 
as  people  occasionally  seem  able  to  become  cognisant  of  facts 
or  events  by  means  ordinarily  closed  to  them, —  a  phenome- 
non which  appears  akin  to  the  water-dowsing  faculty  and  to 
the  "  homing  "  instincts  of  animals, —  so  sometimes  they  can 
write  poetry  or  solve  problems  beyond  their  normal  capacity. 

Here  for  instance  is  the  case  of  the  solution  •  of  a 
mathematical  problem  by  automatic  writing  —  with  the 
pencil  not  held  in  the  hand,  but  attached  to  the  heart-shaped 
piece  of  board  called  a  "  planchette."  It  is  quoted  from  the 


130  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

record  which  I  communicated  at  the  time  to  the  Journal  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  xi. 

A  CASE  OF  AUTOMATIC  INTELLIGENCE 

One  feature  of  interest  is  that  both  the  witnesses  are  ex- 
ceptionally competent.  The  account  was  written  by  an  old 
pupil  of  my  own  at  Bedford  College  in  the  seventies  —  one 
of  the  ablest  students  there, —  Miss  C.  M.  Pole,  daughter 
of  the  late  Dr.  Pole,  F.  R.  S.,  the  well-known  Engineer, 
Musician,  and  writer  on  card-game.  Miss  Pole  is  now 
Mrs.  Garrett  Smith,  living  at  Madgeburg,  and  writes  as 
follows : — 

In  the  early  part  of  1885  I  was  staying  at  in  the  house  of 

Mrs.  Q.,  and  I  and  her  daughter,  Miss  Q.,  B.  A.  Lond.,  used  to 
amuse  ourselves  in  writing  with  a  Planchette.  We  had  several 
Planchettes  (I  think  four),  but  we  could  only  get  response  from 
one  of  them,  which  belonged  to  Miss  Q.  In  the  house  with  us  were 
some  eight  or  nine  others,  .  i  .  but  for  no  other  pair  would  the 
Planchette  act.  The  same  one  had  formerly  given  good  results  with 
Miss  Q.  and  another  friend,  but  I  have  never  written  with  a  Plan- 
chette before  or  since.  We  got  all  sorts  of  nonsense  out  of  it, 
sometimes  long  doggerel  rhymes  with  several  verses.  Sometimes  we 
asked  for  prophecies,  but  I  do  not  remember  ever  getting  one  which 
came  true,  and  my  impression  is  that  generally  when  we  asked  for 
a  prophecy  the  thing  went  off  in  a  straight  line  —  running  off  the 
table  if  we  did  not  take  our  hands  off.  It  often  did  this,  refusing 
to  write  at  all,  and  towards  the  end  of  my  stay  there  I  believe  it  was 
always  so;  we  could  get  no  answer  from  it.  I  believe  we  often 
asked  Planchette  who  the  guiding  spirit  was;  but  I  only  once  re- 
member getting  a  definite  connected  answer.  Then  it  wrote  that  his 
name  was  "  Jim,"  and  that  he  had  been  a  Senior  Wrangler.  After 
other  questions,  we  asked  it  to  write  the  equation  to  its  own  curve 
[in  other  words,  to  express  mathematically  the  outline  of  the  heart- 
shaped  board].  Planchette  wrote  something  like  this  quite  dis- 
tinctly — 


EXAMPLES 


(The  curl  backwards  always  denoted  that  the  answer  was  fin- 
ished.) 

We  repeated  the  question  several  times,  but  each  time  the  an- 
swer was  the  same,  sometimes  more,  sometimes  less  distinct.  We 

a  sin  0. 

interpreted  it  as  r= ...     I  knew  just  enough  to  be 

6 

able  to  draw  the  curve  represented  by  the  equation.  In  my  first 
try  I  made  a  mistake  and  believed  the  curve  to  be  quite  a  different 
one,  but  afterwards  I  drew  [something  like]  the  following  [rough 
sketch] — a  double  never-ending  spiral: 


We  checked  our  result  by  taking  the  equation  to  the  Mathematical 
Master  at  the  Boys'  College,  who  drew  the  same  [sort  of]  curve  for 
us,  but  we  did  not  tell  him  where  we  got  the  equation  from. 

I  cannot  say  whether  the  Planchette  we  used  was  really  exactly  the 
shape  of  the  outside  curve ;  I  should  rather  fancy  that  with  the  heart 
shape  the  resemblance  ended.  I  am  quite  sure  that  I  had  never  seen 
the  curve  before,  and  therefore  the  production  of  the  equation  could 


132  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

not  have  been  an  act  of  unconscious  memory  on  my  part.  Also  I 
most  certainly  did  not  know  enough  mathematics  to  know  how  to 
form  an  equation  which  would  represent  such  a  curve,  or  to  know 
even  of  what  type  the  equation  must  be.  But  I  had  come  across 
such  equations  and  drawn  the  curves  represented  by  them ; —  for  in- 
stance, afterwards  I  found  in  my  notebook  the  spiral  r  0  =  YZ  TT  a, 
and  the  cardioid  r  =  a  (i-f-c°s0).  We  had  used  no  text-book, 
and  in  the  full  notes  of  the  lectures  I  had  attended,  these  were  the 
two  curves  I  found  most  similar  to  Planchette's.  If  my  brain  pro- 
duced the  equation  written  by  Planchette,  it  must  have  been  that  I 
unconsciously  formed  an  equation  like  some  I  had  seen  before,  which 
by  a  curious  coincidence  chanced  to  represent  a  heart-shaped  curve. 

I  know  that  we  were  both  quite  unconscious  of  any  influence  we 
may  have  exercised  on  the  Planchette. 

CECILIA  GARRETT  SMITH. 

MAGDEBURG,  November  1903 

March  iyd,  1904 

I  (O.  L.)  made  inquiries  about  Miss  Q.  and  found  that 
she  was  well  known  to  friends  of  mine,  and  was  a  serious 
and  responsible  and  trustworthy  person,  so  I  wrote  some 
further  questions  to  her,  and  received  the  following  reply : — 

*  .  .  As  far  as  Miss  Pole  and  I  were  concerned,  it  was  quite 
bona-fide,  and  was  not  open  to  any  suspicion  of  practical  joking  or 
setting  traps  for  each  other.  It  is  true  that  when  we  wrote  plan- 
chette,  it  was  never  with  any  serious  motive,  such  as  with  the  object 
of  testing  the  unconscious  mind,  or  for  any  scientific  purpose,  but 
merely  for  the  fun  of  the  thing.  We  used  to  ask  it  to  prophesy 
future  events,  and  to  make  up  poetry,  and  all  purely  for  amusement, 
after  the  manner  of  schoolgirls.  Nevertheless,  all  that  was  written 
was  quite  in  good  faith. 

The  equation  written  did  not  come  within  the  mathematical  knowl- 
edge I  then  possessed,  which  was  limited  to  the  mathematics  neces- 
sary for  the  London  B.A.  Pass  Degree.  I  knew  of  course  that 
every  curve  could  be  represented  by  an  equation,  and  I  was  familiar 


EXAMPLES  133 

with  polar  co-ordinates  in  which  the  equation  was  written.  But  the 
only  equations  I  could  then  identify  were  those  of  the  conic  sections. 
Miss  Pole  had  read  some  elementary  Differential,  and  knew  more 
than  I  did,  but  my  impression  is  that  her  knowledge  was  not  sufficient 
to  enable  her  to  trace  curves. 

Certainly  neither  of  us  perceived  from  the  appearance  of  the 
equation  that  the  reply  was  the  correct  one,  but  that  I  think  would 
have  been  too  much  to  expect,  even  if  our  knowledge  had  been  much 
higher  than  it  was. 

I  did  not  know  sufficient  at  that  time  to  attempt  to  plot  the  curve. 
I  believe  Miss  Pole  did  attempt  it,  but  if  so,  her  attempts  were  un- 
successful. We  were  not  satisfied  that  the  equation  did  represent  a 
curve  like  the  outline  of  the  planchette  till  we  had  asked  our  mathe- 
matical master  to  trace  it  for  us.  (This  was  done  without  telling 
him  any  of  the  facts  of  the  case.) 

I  do  not  remember  that  we  ever  closely  compared  the  curve  he 
drew  in  tracing  the  equation  with  the  actual  planchette  in  question. 
We  did  not  take  the  matter  very  seriously,  and  were  quite  content 
when  we  saw  that  the  solution  was  at  all  events  approximately  true. 
On  now  tracing  the  curve  represented  by  the  equation,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  it  very  closely  resembles  the  shape  of  the  actual 
planchette  used,  from  my  memory  of  it.  (The  planchette  is  no 
longer  in  existence.)  .  .  . 

To  this  I  (O.  L.)  add  that  the  equation  which  would 
naturally  occur  to  any  one  is  the  cardioid  r  =  a  ( I  -f-  cos  0}  ; 
but  it  is  quite  likely,  as  Mrs.  Garrett  Smith  says,  that  al- 
though as  a  student  she  was  undoubtedly  aware  of  this 
curve,  she  might  not,  some  years  afterward,  be  able  to  re- 
produce it  on  demand. 

The  equation  written  by  Planchette  is  not  a  familiar  one 
and  certainly  would  not  be  likely  to  occur  to  her,  nor  would 
it  have  occurred  to  me ;  but  the  sketch  given  does  not  profess 
to  be  an  exact  representation  of  the  curve  corresponding  to 
the  equation  written  by  the  planchette,  but  only  represents 
her  recollection  of  its  general  character. 


134  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

Mr.  J.  W.  Sharpe,  of  Bournemouth,  has  been  good 
enough  to  draw  out  an  accurate  graph  of  the  curve,  and  here 
is  his  drawing  on  a  reduced  scale. 


_  *         /\ 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  equation  r  —  a 

6 

was  given  by  Planchette,  as  representing  mathematically 
the  shape  of  its  own  outline  or  boundary;  the  intelligence 
controlling  its  movements  being  represented  as  that  of  a 
Cambridge  Wrangler. 

With  regard  to  his  drawing  Mr.  Sharpe  observes  that 
the  curve  does  not  consist  of  two  sets  of  spirals,  as  at  first 
depicted  roughly,  but  of  two  sets  of  loops,  all  passing 
through  the  cusp  and  touching  one  another  there,  and  all 
contained  within  the  outer  heart-shaped  boundary.  The 
loops  meet  only  at  the  cusp,  and  there  is  an  infinite  number 
of  them.  They  decrease  in  area  without  limit,  ultimately 
sinking  into  the  point  of  the  cusp. 

The  equation  very  well  represents  the  ordinary  form 
of  a  planchette.  But  if  it  had  accidentally  been  reversed 

n 

into  r  =  a  — the  curve  would  have  been  entirely  different 

sin  0, 

different  and  entirely  unlike  any  planchette  outline. 

Mr.  Sharpe  thinks  it  very  unlikely  that  either  of  the 


EXAMPLES  135 

automatists  had  ever  seen  an  accurate  graph  of  the  equation 
given  in  their  writing.  It  is  of  course  much  more  difficult 
to  invent  an  equation  to  fit  a  given  curve  (which  was  the 
feat  performed  by  the  writing  in  this  case)  than,  when  the 
equation  is  given,  to  draw  the  curve  represented  by  it. 


POWER  OF  UNSEEN  READING 

In  illustration  of  supernormal  power  of  a  still  more  ex- 
cessive kind  I  quote  from  the  automatic  writings  of  Mr. 
Stainton  Moses  —  well  known  as  a  master  for  many  years 
in  University  College  School,  London  —  who  for  a  great 
part  of  this  period  used  to  write  automatically  in  the  early 
morning  in  solitude.  A  great  number  of  these  writings 
have  been  published  and  are  well  known  to  all  students  of 
the  subject;  but  the  following  incident  is  of  a  surprising 
character  and  is  an  example,  though  an  exceptionally  strong 
one,  of  the  power  of  reading  letters  etc.,  possessed  in  some 
degree  by  one  or  two  of  the  "  controls  "  of  Mrs.  Piper  and 
of  many  another  medium  in  history. 

The  following  script  was  obtained  by  Mr.  Stainton  Moses  while 
he  was  sitting  in  Dr.  Speer's  library  and  discoursing  with  various 
supposed  communicators  through  his  writing  hand: — 

See  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  106. 
S.  M.  Can  you  read? 

"  No,  friend,  I  cannot,  but  Zachary  Gray  can,  and  Rector. 
I  am  not  able  to  materialise  myself,  or  to  command  the  ele- 
ments." 
S.  M.  Are  either  of  those  spirits  here? 

"  I  will  bring  one  by  and  by.     I  will  send     .      .      .     Rector 

is  here." 

S.  M.  I  am  told  you  can  read.     Is  that  so?     Can  you  read  a  book? 
(Handwriting  changed).     "Yes,   friend,  with  difficulty." 


136  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

S.  M.  Will  you  write  for  me  the  last  line  of  the  first  book  of  the 
jEnid? 

"  Wait Omnibus    errantem    terns    et   fluctibus   aestas." 

[This  was  right.] 

S.  M.  Quite  so.  But  I  might  have  known  it.  Can  you  go  to  the 
bookcase,  take  the  last  book  but  one  on  the  second  shelf, 
and  read  me  the  last  paragraph  of  the  ninety- fourth  page? 
I  have  not  seen  it,  and  do  not  even  know  its'  name. 

[With  a  little  delay  the  following  writing  came.] 

"  I  will  curtly  prove  by  a  short  historical  narrative,  that 
Popery  is  a  novelty,  and  has  gradually  arisen  or  grown  up 
since  the  primitive  and  pure  time  of  Christianity,  not  only 
since  the  apostolic  age,  but  even  since  the  lamentable  union 
of  kirk  and  state  by  Constantine." 

(The  book  on  examination  proved  to  be  a  queer  one  called 
"Roger's  Antipopopriestian,  an  attempt  to  liberate  and 
purify  Christianity  from  Popery,  Politikirkality,  and  Priest- 
rule."  The  extract  given  above  was  accurate,  but  the  word 
"  narrative  "  substituted  for  "  account.") 
S.  M.  How  came  I  to  pitch  upon  so  appropriate  a  sentence? 

"  I  know  not,  my  friend.  It  was  done  by  coincidence.  The 
word  was  changed  in  error.  I  knew  it  when  it  was  done, 
but  would  not  change." 

S.  M.  How  do  you  read?  You  wrote  more  slowly,  and  by  fits  and 
starts. 

"  I  wrote  what  I  remembered  and  then  went  for  more.  It 
is  a  special  effort  to  read,  and  useful  only  as  a  test.  Your 
friend  was  right  last  night;  we  can  read,  but  only  when 
conditions  are  very  good.  We  will  read  once  again,  and 
write,  and  then  impress  you  of  the  book : — '  Pope  is  the 
last  great  writer  of  that  school  of  poetry,  the  poetry  of  the 
intellect,  or  of  the  intellect  mingled  with  the  fancy.'  That 
is  truly  written.  Go  and  take  the  eleventh  book  on  the 
same  shelf.  [I  took  a  book  called  Poetry,  Romance,  and 
Rhetoric.]  It  will  open  at  the  page  for  you.  Take  it 
and  read,  and  recognise  our  power,  and  the  permission 


EXAMPLES  137 

which  the  great  and  good  God  gives  us,  to  show  you  of 
our  power  over  matter.  To  Him  be  glory.  Amen." 
(The  book  opened  at  page  145,  and  there  was  the  quotation 
perfectly  true.  I  had  not  seen  the  book  before:  certainly 
had  no  idea  of  its  contents.  S.  M.)  [These  books  were 
in  Dr.  Speer's  library:— F.  W.  H.  M.] 

To  this  Mr.  Myers  pertinently  appends  the  note : — 

It  is  plain  that  a  power  such  as  this,  of  acquiring  and  re- 
producing fresh  knowledge,  interposes  much  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  identifying  any  alleged  spirit  by  means  of  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  facts  of  his  earth  life. 


DREAM  LUCIDITY 

To  illustrate  the  fact  that  extra  or  supernormal  lucidity 
is  possible  in  dreams,  a  multitude  of  instances  might  be 
quoted  from  the  publications  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research.  Almost  at  random  I  quote  two, —  the  first  a 
short  one  of  which  the  contemporary  record  is  reported  on 
by  a  critical  and  sceptical  member  of  the  Society,  Mr.  Thos. 
Barkworth,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  for  Dec.  1895. 

G.  249.     Dream. 

The  following  is  a  case  which  was  noted  at  the  time,  before  it  was 
known  to  be  veridical. 

It  was  received  by  Mr.  Barkworth,    who  writes  concerning  it. 

WEST  HATCH,  CHIGWELL,  ESSEX,  August  2$th,  [1895] 
It  has  been  often  made  a  subject  of  reproach  by  persons  who  dis- 
trust the  S.  P.  R.  that  the  evidence  we  obtain  is  seldom,  if  ever,  sup- 
ported by  written  records  demonstrably  made  before  the  dream  or 
the  hallucination  had  been  verified  by  subsequently  ascertained  facts. 
Indeed,  a  Mr.  Taylor  Innes,  writing  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 
some  years  ago,  went  so  far,  if  I  remember  rightly,  as  to  assert  that 


138  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

no  such  case  could  be  produced  up  to  the  time  he  wrote.  It  must 
certainly  be  admitted  that  in  provoking  numerous  instances  it  is 
found  that  the  alleged  letter  or  diary  has  been  destroyed. 

The  following  experience  of  the  Rev.  E.  K.  Elliott,  Rector  of 
Worthing,  who  was  formerly  in  the  navy,  and  who  made  the  entry  in 
his  diary  as  quoted  when  he  was  cruising  in  the  Atlantic  out  of  reach 
of  post  or  telegraph,  will  therefore  be  found  of  interest.  The  diary 
is  still  in  his  possession.  T.  B. 

Extract  from  diary  written  out  in  Atlantic,  January  i^.tht  1847 

Dreamt  last  night  I  received  a  letter  from  my  uncle,  H.  E., 
dated  January  3rd,  in  which  news  of  my  dear  brother's  death  was 
given.  It  greatly  struck  me. 

My  brother  had  been  ill  in  Switzerland,  but  the  last  news  I  re- 
ceived on  leaving  England  was  that  he  was  better. 

The  '  January  3rd  '  was  very  black,  as  if  intended  to  catch  my 
eye. 

On  my  return  to  England  I  found,  as  I  quite  expected,  a  letter 
awaiting  me  saying  my  brother  had  died  on  the  above  date." 

Worthing.  E.  K.  ELLIOTT. 

The  second  case  I  quote  is  a  much  longer  and  more 
elaborate  one,  and  we  owe  its  receipt  to  Dr.  Hodgson  while 
in  America. 

There  are  many  partially  similar  records  of  people  be- 
coming aware  of  an  accident  in  which  some  near  relative 
was  injured  or  killed :  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  emotion 
caused  by  injury  seems  as  likely  to  convey  such  an  impres- 
sion as  anything  pertaining  to  death  itself;  but  the  point  of 
the  following  narrative  is  that  a  complete  stranger  became 
impressed  with  facts  which  were  happening  at  a  distance, 
without  the  slightest  personal  interest  in  any  one  concerned 
—  so  that  it  seems  to  make  in  favour  of  a  general  clair- 
voyant faculty  rather  than  for  any  spiritistic  explanation. 
The  prefix  P.  224  is  merely  a  classificatory  reference  number. 


EXAMPLES  139 


P.  224.     Dream. 


The  following  case  has  some  resemblance  to  Mrs.  Storie's  experi- 
ence, of  which  an  account  was  published  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living, 
vol.  i.,  p.  370,  except  that  the  person  whose  fate  was  represented  in 
the  dream  was  in  the  case  here  printed  entirely  unknown  to  the 
dreamer.  The  account  is  written  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Wack,  Attorney, 
and  comes  to  us  through  the  American  Branch  of  the  Society. 

COURT  HOUSE,  ST.  PAUL,  MINN.,  February  loth,  1892 

"  I  believe  I  have  had  a  remarkable  experience.  About  midnight 
on  the  29th  day  of  December,  headsore  and  fatigued,  I  left  my 
study  where  I  had  been  poring  over  uninspiring  law  text,  and, 
climbing  to  my  chamber  door,  fell  into  bed  for  the  night. 

"  Nothing  unusual  had  transpired  in  my  affairs  that  day,  and  yet, 
when  I  gave  myself  to  rest,  my  brain  buzzed  on  with  a  myriad  fancies. 
1  lay  an  hour,  awake,  and  blinking  like  an  over-fed  owl.  The  weird 
intonation  of  an  old  kitchen  clock  fell  upon  my  ears  but  faintly,  as  it 
donged  the  hour  of  two.  The  sound  of  the  clock  chime  had  hardly 
died  when  I  became  conscious  [of]  my  position  in  a  passenger  coach 
on  the  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Omaha  railroad.  I  was  journeying 
to  Duluth,  Minnesota,  from  St.  Paul,  in  which  latter  place  I  had 
gone  to  sleep.  I  was  aware  that  I  had  been  on  the  train  about  four 
hours  and  that  I  was  somewhere  near  the  town  of  Shell  Lake,  Wis., 
distant  from  St.  Paul  about  eighty  miles.  I  had  often  been  over  the 
road,  and  as  I  peered  through  the  coach  wind»w,  I  recognised,  in 
the  moonlit  scene,  features  of  country  and  habitation  I  had  seen  be- 
fore. We  were  plunging  on,  almost  heedlessly  as  it  seemed,  when  I 
fancied  I  heard  and  was  startled  from  my  reverie  by  a  piercing 
shriek,  which  was  protracted  into  a  piteous  moaning  and  gasping,  as 
if  some  human  creature  were  suffering  some  hideous  torture. 

"  Then  I  felt  the  train  grind  heavily  to  an  awkward  stop.  There 
was  a  sudden  commotion  fore  and  aft.  Train  men  with  lanterns 
hurried  through  my  car  and  joined  employes  near  the  engine.  I 
could  see  the  lights  flash  here  and  there,  beside  and  beneath  the  cars; 
brakemen  moved  along  the  wheels  in  groups,  the  pipe  voice  of  the 


140  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

conductor  and  the  awe-stricken  cry  of  the  black  porter  infused  a 
livening  sense  to  a  scene  which  I  did  not  readily  understand.  In- 
stinctively I  concluded  that  an  accident  had  happened,  or  perhaps  that 
a  break  to  the  train  had  occasioned  this  sudden  uprising  of  train  men. 
A  minute  later  I  was  out  upon  the  road  bed.  The  brusque  and 
busy  search  and  the  disturbed  manner  of  the  attendants  did  not 
propitiate  elaborate  inquiry  from  a  Curious  passenger,  so  I  was  ap- 
peased to  be  told,  in  very  ugly  snappish  English,  that  if  I  had  eyes 
I  might  see  for  myself  that  '  some  one  got  killed,  I  reckon.'  Every- 
body moved  and  acted  in  a  spirit  of  stealth,  and  each,  it  appeared, 
expected  a  horrible  '  find.'  The  trucks  were  being  examined  from 
the  rear  of  the  train  forward.  Blood  splotches  were  discovered  on 
nearly  all  the  bearings  under  the  entire  train.  When  the  gang 
reached  one  of  the  forward  cars,  all  lights  were  cast  upon  a  truck 
which  was  literally  scrambled  with  what  appeared  to  be  brains  — 
human  brains,  evidently,  for  among  the  clots  were  small  tufts  of 
human  hair.  This  truck,  particularly,  must  have  ground  over  the 
bulk  of  a  human  body.  Every  fixture  between  the  wheels  was 
smeared  with  the  crimson  ooze  of  some  crushed  victim.  But  where 
was  the  body,  or  at  least  its  members?  The  trucks  were  covered 
only  with  a  pulp  of  mangled  remnants.  The  search  for  what  ap- 
peared of  the  killed  was  extended  500  yards  back  of  the  train  and  all 
about  the  right-of-way  with  no  more  satisfactory  result  than  to  occa- 
sionally find  a  blood-stained  tie. 

"  All  hands  boarded  the  train ;  many  declaring  that  it  was  an  un- 
usual mishap  on  a  railroad  which  left  such  uncertain  trace  of  its  vic- 
tim. Again  I  felt  the  train  thundering  on  through  the  burnt  pine 
wastes  of  northern  Minnesota.  As  I  reclined  there  in  my  berth,  I 
reflected  upon  the  experience  of  the  night,  and  often  befuddled  my 
sleepy  head  in  an  effort  to  understand  how  a  train,  pushing  along 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour,  could  so  grind  and  triturate  a 
vital  bulk,  staining  only  trucks  behind  the  engine,  unless  the  killed 
at  the  fatal  time  were  upon  the  truck  or  huddled  closely  by  it.  I 
concluded,  therefore,  that  the  being  destroyed  under  the  train  had 
been  concealed  near  the  bespattered  fixtures  of  the  car.  I  had  read 
of  death  to  tramps  stealing  rides  by  hiding  themselves  under  or 


EXAMPLES  141 

between  cars,  and  finally  I  dismissed  meditation  —  assured  that  an- 
other unfortunate  itinerant  had  been  crushed  out  of  existence.  Hor- 
rible !  I  shuddered  and  awoke  —  relieved  to  comprehend  it  all  a 
dream. 

"  Now  the  fact  that  the  foregoing  is  an  accurate  statement  of  a 
dream  experienced  by  me  is  not  a  matter  for  marvel.  Taken  alone, 
there  is  nothing  remarkable  in  the  time  at  which  this  vision  blackened 
my  sleep.  The  spell  was  upon  me  between  two  and  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning  —  of  that  I  am  certain.  I  am  positive  of  the  time,  be- 
cause, when  I  awoke,  I  heard  the  clock  distinctly,  as  it  struck  three. 

"  On  the  morrow,  I, —  who  usually  forget  an  ordinary  dream  long 
before  breakfast  —  recounted  to  the  family  the  details  of  the  night's 
distraction.  From  my  hearers  there  followed  only  the  ordinary  com- 
ments of  how  ghastly  and  how  shocking  the  story  was  as  told  and 
how  strange  the  nature  of  the  accident  —  that  no  parts  of  the  body 
had  been  found.  The  latter  circumstance  was,  to  me  also,  quite  an 
unusual  feature  of  railroad  casualty. 

"  The  evening  following  the  night  of  the  dream  (December  3Oth), 
at  5  o'clock,  I  returned  to  my  home,  stepped  into  my  study,  and,  as 
I  am  in  the  habit  of  doing,  I  glanced  at  a  page  of  the  St.  Paul 
Dispatch,  a  daily  evening  newspaper.  It  had  been  casually  folded 
by  a  previous  reader,  so  that  in  picking  it  up  flatly,  the  article  which 
first  fixed  my  attention  read: 

1 '  Fate  of  a  tramp.  Horrible  death  experienced  by  an  unknown 
man  on  the  Omaha  Road.  His  remains  scattered  for  miles  along  the 
track  by  the  merciless  wheels. 

: '  Duluth,  December  30. —  Every  truck  on  the  incoming  Omaha 
train  from  St.  Paul  this  morning  was  splashed  with  blood.  Train 
men  did  not  know  there  had  been  an  accident  till  they  arrived  here, 
but  think  some  unfortunate  man  must  have  been  stealing  a  ride  be- 
tween St.  Paul  and  this  city.  Train  men  on  a  later  train  state  that 
a  man's  leg  was  found  by  them  at  Spooner,  and  that  for  two  miles 
this  side  the  tracks  were  scattered  with  pieces  of  flesh  and  bone. 
There  is  no  possible  means  of  identification.' 

"  Here  was  an  evident  verification  of  all  that  transpired  in  my 
mind  between  two  and  three  o'clock  on  the  previous  night.  I  re- 


142  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

fleeted,  and  the  more  I  pondered  the  faster  I  became  convinced  that 
I  had  been  in  some  mysterious  form,  spirit  or  element,  witness  of 
the  tragedy  reported  in  the  columns  of  the  press  —  that  my  vision  was 
perfect  as  to  general  details,  and  the  impression  complete  and  exact 
to  time,  place,  and  circumstance.  The  next  morning  I  scanned  the 
pages  of  the  Pioneer  Press  of  December  3ist,  and  read  the  following 
paragraph : — 

'  Unknown  man  killed,  Shell  Lake,  Wis.  Special  telegram, 
December  3Oth. —  Fragments  of  the  body  of  an  unknown  man  were 
picked  up  on  the  railroad  track  to-day.  Portions  of  the  same  body 
were  also  found  on  over  100  miles  of  the  railroad.  He  is  supposed 
to  have  been  killed  by  the  night  train,  but  just  where  it  is  not 
known.' 

"  With  this  came  the  conviction  to  me  that,  living  and  asleep,  IOO 
miles  from  the  place  of  the  killing,  I  had  been  subjected  to  the 
phantom-sight  of  an  actual  occurrence  on  the  Omaha  railroad,  as 
vivid  and  in  truth  as  I  have  stated  it  above. 

"  I  have  not  written  this  account  because  Mark  Twain  and  other 
authors  have  published  in  current  magazines  their  experiences  in  what 
is  termed  Mental  Telepathy  or  Mental  Telegraphy.  On  the  con- 
trary, having  read  a  number  of  those  articles,  I  have  hesitated  to 
utter,  as  authentic,  what  I  now  believe  to  be  a  material  and  striking 
evidence  of  the  extent,  the  caprice,  and  the  possibilities  of  this  occult 
phenomenon." 

"  HARRY  W.  WACK." 

In  reply  to  Dr.  Hodgson's  inquiries,  Mr.  Wack  wrote: — 

"  ST.  PAUL,  February  2Oth,  1892 

"Mv  DEAR  SIR, —  Replying  to  your  valued  favour  of  the  I5th 
inst,  I  will  say  that  you  are  right  in  understanding  that  my  account 
of  the  dream  submitted  to  your  Society  is  a  true  narrative. 

"  I  reaffirm  every  word  of  it,  and  give  you  my  solemn  assurance 
that,  as  I  have  stated,  I  informed  the  family  and  friends  of  the 
dream  and  its  details,  before  I  had  the  first  suspicion  that  the  public 
press  ever  had  contained  or  ever  would  contain  a  report  of  such  an 
actual  occurrence. 


EXAMPLES  143 

"  If  desirable  I  will  make  affidavit  as  to  the  truth  of  the  substance 
of  the  narrative  in  your  hands. 

"  I  enclose  a  few  corroborative  letters,  the  signatures  to  which  I 
procured  yesterday,  February  igth.  If  these  serve  you,  well  and 
good.  "  HARRY  W.  WACK." 

The  following  were  the  corroborative  letters  enclosed: — 

(i)  "ST.  PAUL,  February  2Oth,  1892 

"  GENTLEMEN, —  Referring  to  an  account  of  a  dream  submitted  to 
you  by  Mr.  Harry  Wack  of  this  city  which  I  have  read,  I  beg  leave 
to  add  the  following  facts  corroborative  of  the  narrative. 

"  After  careful  consideration  of  the  article,  I  find  that  the  story 
of  the  dream  on  December  2gth-3Oth  is  in  substance  identical  with 
that  which  was  related  by  Mr.  Wack  at  breakfast  on  the  morning 
of  December  3Oth,  1891.  On  that  occasion  Mr.  Wack  stated  that 
he  had  been  agitated  the  previous  night  by  a  dream  of  unusual 
features,  and  then,  at  the  request  of  those  present,  he  recited  what 
now  appears  in  his  article,  which  I  have  just  perused  for  the  first 
time.  On  the  evening  of  December  soth,  1891,  when  Mr.  Wack 
discovered  the  newspaper  item,  he  again  mentioned  the  dream  and 
called  my  attention  to  the  newspaper  item,  and  several  of  the  family 
discussed  the  matter.  On  the  morning  of  December  3ist,  another 
newspaper  clipping  bearing  on  the  same  matter  was  debated  by  the 
family. 

"  Aside  from  the  unusual  features  and  hideousness  of  the  dream, 
there  was  nothing  to  startle  us,  until  the  newspaper  accounts  de- 
veloped the  affair  in  a  mysterious  sense.  The  first  version  of  the 
dream  was  given  in  the  morning  of  December  3Oth.  The  first 
newspaper  dispatch  appeared  and  was  discovered  in  the  evening  of 
the  same  day.  This  I  know  of  my  own  knowledge,  being  present 
on  each  occasion. 

"  MRS.  MARGARET  B.  MACDONALD." 

(2)  "  ST.  PAUL,  MINN.,  February  2Oth,  1892 

"  GENTLEMEN, — T  have  read  the  letter  of  Mrs.  Macdonald,  with 
whom  I  visited  on  December  29th,  3Oth,  3ist,  and  days  following, 


H4  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

and  with  your  permission  I  will  say  that  I  also  was  present  at  break- 
fast when  Mr.  Wack  mentioned  the  dream,  and  at  dinner  (6  p.m.) 
when  Mr.  Wack  called  our  attention  to  the  newspaper  item,  which 
he  then  declared  was  a  positive  verification  of  the  dream  he  ex- 
perienced the  night  before.  I  have  read  the  account  of  the  dream, 
and  I  believe  it  to  be  precisely  as  I  understood  it  from  Mr.  Wack's 
account  given  on  the  morning  of  December  soth,  1891. 

"  ROSE  B.  HAMILTON." 

(3)  "ST.  PAUL,  February  2Oth,  1892 

"  GENTLEMEN, —  Having  read  the  foregoing  letters  of  Mrs.  Mac- 
donald  and  Miss  Rose  B.  Hamilton,  and  being  familiar  with  the 
facts  and  incidents  therein  set  forth,  I  would  add  my  endorsement 
to  them  as  being  in  strict  accord  with  the  truth. 

"  Mr.  Wack  stated  his  dream  as  he  has  written  of  it  in  the  article 
which  I  understand  he  has  submitted  to  you,  on  the  morning  of 
December  soth,  1891.  He  came  upon  and  drew  our  attention  to 
the  newspaper  articles  in  the  evening  of  December  soth,  and  on  the 
morning  of  December  Sist,  1891.  It  was  these  newspaper  dis- 
patches which  made  the  dream  interesting,  and  thereafter  it  was 
freely  discussed.  "  C.  E.  McDoNALD." 

Mr.  H.  W.  Smith,  an  Associate  Member  of  the  American  Branch, 
writes  to  Dr.  Hodgson  in  connection  with  the  case: — 

"  OFFICE  OF  SMITH  &  AUSTRIAN,  COMMISSION  MERCHANTS, 
"  290,  E.,  6TH  STREET,  PRODUCE  EXCHANGE, 

"ST.  PAUL,  MINN.,  April  i^th,  1892 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  It  has  been  impossible  for  me  to  accept  Mr. 
Wack's  invitation  to  meet  at  his  house  the  witnesses  he  cited  in  his 
communication  to  you.  I  have  already  written  you  of  my  preliminary 
interview  with  Mr.  Wack,  and  it  confirms  in  my  own  mind  the  high 
opinion  which  I  previously  held  of  him  through  our  acquaintanceship, 
extending  over  a  series  of  years.  There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  in  my 
mind  that  the  statement  he  makes  is  substantially  correct,  at  least  as 
respects  any  and  all  allegations  of  fact.  Of  course  the  application 


EXAMPLES  145 

of  these  facts  to  an  unknown  force  is  a  matter  upon  which  I  cannot 
speak.  "  HERBERT  W.  SMITH." 

Instances  like  this  are  by  no  means  solitary,  and  what- 
ever view  we  take  of  them  we  have  to  include  them  in  the 
roll  of  facts  demanding  explanation  —  an  explanation  which 
may  not  be  readily  forthcoming.  It  may  be  presumed  that 
as  far  as  they  go  they  make  against  the  spiritistic  hypothesis 
in  any  simple  or  direct  form ;  and  what  is  why  in  a  book  like 
this  it  is  necessary  to  emphasise  them. 

Meanwhile  all  we  are  sure  of  is  that  information  is  ob- 
tained by  some  mediums  which  is  entirely  beyond  their  con- 
scious knowledge,  and  occasionally  beyond  the  conscious 
knowledge  of  everyone  present.  But  as  to  how  this  lucidity 
is  attained  we  are  as  yet  in  the  dark;  though  we  must  ul- 
timately proceed  to  consider  the  possibility  that  it  is  by  some 
sort  of  actual  communication  from  other  intelligences,  akin 
to  the  conveyance  of  information  in  the  accustomed  and 
ordinary  human  way,  by  rumour,  by  conversation,  and  by 
the  press. 

Incidents  that  seem  to  point  to  some  form  of  super- 
normal communication  are  exemplified  in  the  experiments 
of  Dr.  van  Eeden  of  Bussum,  in  Holland,  with  Mrs. 
Thompson  at  Hampstead, —  a  lady  who  is  referred  to  more 
particularly  in  Section  IV.  of  this  book.  (See  his  paper 
on  sittings  with  Mrs.  Thompson  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R., 
vol.  xvii.,  especially  pp.  86-7  and  112—115).  Dr.  van 
Eeden,  having  cultivated  the  power  of  controlling  his  own 
dreams,  so  as  to  be  able  to  dream  of  performing  actions 
which  he  had  planned  while  awake,  arranged  with  Mrs. 
Thompson  that  he  would  occasionally  call  "  Nelly  "  (her 
"  control  ")  in  his  dreams  after  returning  to  Holland,  and 
that  if  she  heard  him  calling  she  should  tell  Mr.  Piddington, 


146  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

who  was  in  charge  of  the  sittings,  at  his  next  sitting.  On 
three  occasions,  in  January  and  February  1900,  some  success 
was  obtained  in  these  experiments;  that  is  "Nelly"  stated 
that  she  had  heard  Dr.  van  Eeden  calling,  and  had  been  to 
see  him ;  the  dates  she  gave  were  approximately,  though  not 
exactly,  the  same  as  those  recorded  in  his  diary  of  dreams; 
but  on  each  occasion  she  gave  details,  which  were  afterwards 
verified,  as  to  his  circumstances  at  the  time.  On  a  fourth 
occasion  (April  iQth,  1900),  when  "  Nelly  "  stated  that  she 
had  been  to  see  Dr.  van  Eeden,  he  had  no  dream  of  her  at 
the  time,  but  she  gave  a  description  of  his  condition  which 
corresponded  with  what  it  had  been  during  the  early  part  of 
the  same  month. 

A  case  of  a  somewhat  similar  kind  is  the  one  recorded 
in  Dr.  Hodgson's  report  on  Mrs.  Piper  (Proceedings,  vol. 
viii.,  p.  120),  where  Mr.  M.  N.  in  America  relates  that 
Mrs.  Piper's  control,  "  Dr.  Phinuit,"  had  said  that  he  would 
visit  Mr.  N.'s  dying  father  in  England  about  certain  matters 
connected  with  his  will,  and  where  later  on  it  was  reported 
by  those  attending  the  dying  father  that  he  had  complained 
of  the  presence  of  an  obtrusive  old  man.  (This  case  is 
quoted  on  p.  149.) 

CLAIRVOYANCE  OF  THE  DYING 

The  extra  lucidity  of  the  dying  is  a  thing  so  often  asserted 
that  it  has  become  almost  a  commonplace,  and  sometimes, 
as  in  the  case  of  children,  it  would  seem  to  eclipse  mere 
imagination  —  as  for  instance  when  a  dying  child  welcomes, 
and  appears  to  be  welcomed  by,  its  deceased  mother.  But 
these  visions  and  auditions,  which  are  unmistakably  common, 
are  usually  of  things  beyond  our  ordinary  cognisance,  so 


EXAMPLES  147 

that  for  the  most  part  they  have  to  be  relegated  to  the 
category  of  the  unverifiable.  Occasionally,  however,  we 
have  records  of  a  kind  of  clairvoyant  faculty  whereby 
terrestrial  occurrences  also  are  perceived  by  persons  who 
in  health  had  no  such  power;  and  these  are  worthy  of  at- 
tention,— especially  those  which  are  reciprocal,  producing 
an  impression  at  both  ends  of  a  terrestrial  line,  as  if  the 
telepathic  and  less  material  mode  of  communication  had  in 
their  case  already  begun. 

The  extant  descriptions  of  dying  utterances  are  very  much 
like  the  utterances  in  the  waking  stages  of  Mrs.  Piper's 
trance,  to  be  subsequently  mentioned  —  and  these  did  not  ap- 
pear to  be  random  or  meaningless  sayings,  but  do  really 
correspond  to  some  kind  of  reality,  since  in  them  the  appear- 
ance of  strangers  is  frequently  described  correctly  and 
messages  are  transmitted  which  have  a  definite  meaning. 
Moreover,  the  look  of  ecstasy  on  Mrs.  Piper's  face  at  a 
certain  stage  of  the  waking  process  is  manifestly  similar 
to  that  seen  on  the  faces  of  some  dying  people;  and  both 
describe  the  subjective  vision  as  of  something  more  beautiful 
and  attractive  than  those  of  earth. 

Whether  the  dying  really  have  greater  telepathic  power 
as  agents,  which  is  what  is  assumed  in  the  ordinary 
telepathic  explanation  of  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  is  doubt- 
ful, but  that  they  sometimes  have  greater  sensibility  as 
percipients  seems  likely;  and  sometimes  the  event  which  they 
are  describing  is  likewise  apprehended  by  another  person  at 
a  distance, —  thus  appearing  to  demonstrate  reciprocal  tel- 
epathic influence.  There  is  a  small  group  of  cases  illustra- 
tive of  the  reciprocal  clairvoyance  of  the  dying, —  I  can  only 
quote  an  illustrative  case  or  two  from  the  few  which  are 
well  evidenced :  i.  <?.,  which  come  up  to  the  standard  of  the 


148  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

Society  for  Psychical  Research  in  this  matter  —  but  I  omit 
the  authentication  in  quoting  them,  and  I  also  abbreviate, 
as  I  only  here  wish  to  indicate  the  kind  of  thing. 

The  writer  of  the  following  account  is  Colonel  BM  a  well- 
known  Irish  gentleman.  He  explains  that  his  wife  engaged 
to  sing  with  her  daughters  a  Miss  X.,  who  was  training 
as  a  public  singer  but  who  ultimately  did  not  come  out  in 
that  capacity,  having  married  a  Mr.  Z. 

Six  or  seven  years  afterwards  Mrs.  B.,  who  was  dying, 
in  the  presence  of  her  husband  spoke  of  voices  she  heard 
singing,  saying  that  she  had  heard  them  several  times  that 
day,  and  that  there  was  one  voice  among  them  which  she 
knew,  but  could  not  remember  whose  voice  it  was. 

"  Suddenly  she  stopped  and  said,  pointing  over  my  head,"  says 
Colonel  B.,  "  '  Why,  there  she  is  in  the  corner  of  the  room ;  it  is 
Julia  X.;  she  is  coming  on;  she  is  leaning  over  you;  she  has  her 
hands  up;  she  is  praying;  do  look;  she  is  going.'  I  turned  but  could 
see  nothing.  Mrs.  B.  then  said,  '  She  is  gone.'  All  these  things 
[the  hearing  of  singing  and  the  vision  of  the  singers]  I  imagined 
to  be  the  phantasies  of  a  dying  person. 

"  Two  days  afterwards,  taking  up  the  Times  newspaper,  I  saw 
recorded  the  death  of  Julia  Z.,  wife  of  Mr.  Z.  I  was  so  astounded 

that  in  a  day  or  so  after  the  funeral  I  went  up  to and  asked 

Mr.  X.  if  Mrs.  Z.,  his  daughter,  was  dead.-  He  said,  'Yes,  poor 
thing,  she  died  of  puerperal  fever.  On  the  day  she  died  she  began 
singing  in  the  morning,  and  sang  and  sang  until  she  died.'  " 

The  case  next  quoted  is  a  curious  incident  connected  with 
a  deceased  child,  obtained  in  one  of  the  bereaved  mother's 
sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  America,  at  a  time  when  Phinuit 
was  in  control. 

It  is  the  concluding  portion  of  a  long  and  striking  series 
of  communications,  extremely  characteristic  of  identity,  which 
are  quoted  both  in  Human  Personality,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  245-7, 


EXAMPLES  149 

and  in  Proc.,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xii.,  pp.  386-9.     The  mother's 
testimony  is  thus  reported: — 

The  remarks  made  at  her  second  sitting  suggest  that  "  the  little 
book  "  in  the  child's  mind  was  not  this  one.  "  Kakie  wants  the  little 
bit  of  a  book  mamma  read  by  her  bedside,  with  the  pretty  bright 
things  hanging  from  it  —  mamma  put  it  in  her  hands  —  the  last 
thing  she  remembers."  Mrs.  Sutton  states  that  this  was  a  little 
prayer  book  with  a  cross  and  other  symbols  in  silver  attached  to 
ribbons  for  marking  the  places,  and  that  it  was  sent  to  her  by  a 
friend  after  Kakie  had  ceased  to  know  any  one  except  perhaps  for  a 
passing  moment.  Mrs.  Sutton  read  it  when  Kakie  seemed  uncon- 
scious, and  after  Kakie 's  death  placed  it  in  her  hands  to  prevent  the 
blood  settling  in  the  nails.  She  adds  later  that  Mrs.  Piper's  hands, 
when  the  book  was  asked  for  at  the  sitting,  were  put  into  the  same 
position  as  Kakie's. 

There  is  also  evidence  of  reciprocity  of  an  unusual  kind 
in  connexion  with  the  Piper  case;  for  "  Phinuit  "  has  been 
described  as  perceived  by  a  dying  person  at  a  distance,  in 
correspondence  with  the  assertion  of  Phinuit  that  he  would 
go  and  talk  to  this  same  person  about  unfair  clauses  in  his 
will. 

The  account  of  this  curious  episode  is  from  an  American 
gentleman  who  had  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  in  Piper 
sittings,  and  who  does  not  want  his  name  disclosed.  Of 
three  examples  of  what  he  calls  predictions,  thus  obtained, 
I  select  this  one  as  it  illustrates  the  kind  of  reciprocal  ex- 
perience of  which  I  am  now  speaking.  The  account  is 
corroborated  by  Mrs.  "  M.  N." 

April  ^th,  1889 

.  .  .  About  the  end  of  March  of  last  year  I  made  [Mrs.  Piper] 
a  visit  (having  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  so,  since  early  in  February, 
about  once  a  fortnight).  [As  Phinuit]  told  me  that  a  death  of  a 


ISO  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

near  relative  of  mine  would  occur  in  about  six  weeks,  from  which  I 
should  realise  some  pecuniary  advantages,  I  naturally  thought  of  my 
father,  who  was  advanced  in  years,  and  whose  description  Mrs.  Piper 
had  given  me  very  accurately  some  week  or  two  previously.  She 
had  not  spoken  of  him  as  my  father,  but  merely  as  a  person  nearly 
connected  with  me.  I  asked  her  at  that  sitting  whether  this  person 
was  the  one  who  would  die,  but  she  declined  to  state  anything  more 
clearly  to  me.  My  wife,  to  whom  I  was  then  engaged,  went  to  see 
Mrs.  Piper  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  she  told  her  (my  wife)  that 
my  father  would  die  in  a  few  weeks. 

About  the  middle  of  May  my  father  died  very  suddenly  in  London 
from  heart  failure,  when  he  was  recovering  from  a  very  slight  attack 
of  bronchitis,  and  the  very  day  that  his  doctor  had  pronounced  him 
out  of  danger.  Previous  to  this  Mrs.  Piper  (as  Dr.  Phinuit)  had 
told  me  that  she  would  endeavour  to  influence  my  father  about  certain 
matters  connected  with  his  will  before  he  died.  Two  days  after  I 
received  the  cable  announcing  his  death,  my  wife  and  I  went  to  see 
Mrs.  Piper,  and  she  [Phinuit]  spoke  of  his  presence,  and  his  sudden 
arrival  in  the  spirit-world,  and  said  that  he  (Dr.  Phinuit)  had  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  him  in  those  matters  while  my  father  was 
sick.  Dr.  Phinuit  told  me  the  state  of  the  will,  and  described  the 
principal  executor,  and  said  that  he  (the  executor)  would  make  a 
certain  disposition  in  my  favour,  subject  to  the  consent  of  the  two 
other  executors,  when  I  got  to  London,  England.  Three  weeks 
afterwards  I  arrived  in  London;  found  the  principal  executor  to  be 
the  man  Phinuit  had  described.  The  will  went  materially  as  he 
had  stated.  The  disposition  was  made  in  my  favour,  and  my  sister, 
who  was  chiefly  at  my  father's  bedside  the  last  three  days  of  his  life, 
told  me  that  he  had  repeatedly  complained  of  the  presence  of  an 
old  man  at  the  foot  of  his  bed,  who  annoyed  him  by  discussing  his 
private  affairs.  .  .  . 

("M.  N.") 

A  similar  illustration  of  reciprocity  occurred  in  the  case 
of  the  lady  called  "  Elisa  Manners,"  whose  near  relatives 


EXAMPLES  151 

and  friends  concerned  in  the  communications  were  known 
also  to  Mr.  Myers. 

On  the  morning  after  the  death  of  her  uncle,  called  F. 
in  the  report,  she  described  an  incident  in  connection  with 
the  appearance  of  herself  to  her  uncle  on  his  death-bed. 
Dr.  Hodgson's  account  of  this  is  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R., 
vol.  xiii.,  p.  378,  as  follows: — 

The  notice  of  his  [F.'s]  death  was  in  a  Boston  morning  paper,  and 
I  happened  to  see  it  on  my  way  to  the  sitting.  The  first  writing  of 
the  sitting  came  from  Madame  Elisa,  without  my  expecting  it.  She 
wrote  clearly  and  strongly,  explaining  that  F.  was  there  with  her, 
but  unable  to  speak  directly,  and  that  she  wished  to  give  an  account 
of  how  she  had  helped  F.  to  reach  her.  She  said  that  she  had  been 
present  at  his  death-bed,  and  had  spoken  to  him,  and  she  repeated 
what  she  had  said,  an  unusual  form  of  expression,  and  indicated  that 
he  had  heard  and  recognised  her.  This  was  confirmed  in  detail  in 
the  only  way  possible  at  the  time,  by  a  very  intimate  friend  of 
Madame  Elisa  and  myself,  and  also  of  the  nearest  surviving  relative 
of  F.  I  showed  my  friend  the  account  of  the  sitting;  and  to  this 
friend,  a  day  or  two  later,  the  relative,  who  was  present  at  the  death- 
bed, stated  spontaneously  that  F.  when  dying  saw  Madame  Elisa  who 
was  speaking  to  him,  and  he  repeated  what  she  was  saying.  The 
expression  so  repeated,  which  the  relative  quoted  to  my  friend,  was 
that  which  I  had  received  from  Madame  Elisa  through  Mrs.  Piper's 
trance,  when  the  death-bed  incident  was,  of  course,  entirely  unknown 
to  me. 

WRITING  OF  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES 

Instances  in  which  foreign  languages  unknown  to  the 
medium  are  written  or  spoken  are  comparatively  rare. 

At  a  sitting  in  1892,  when  Madame  Elisa  Manners  was  'com- 


152  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

municating,'  some  Italian  was  written  by  request,  the  lady  being  as 
familiar  with  Italian  as  with  English,  but  only  two  or  three  common 
words  were  decipherable.  The  first  names  of  sitter  and  communica- 
tor were  given,  and  the  last  name  was  both  written  and  afterwards 
given  by  G.  P.  to  Phinuit.  Some  of  the  writing  was  of  a  personal 
character,  and  some  about  the  watch  [concerning  which  inquiry  had 
been  made]  ;  and  G.  P.  stated  correctly,  inter  alia,  that  the  sitter's 
mother  was  present  (in  "spirit")  with  the  communicator,  and  that 
he  himself  did  not  know  her.  The  real  names  are  very  uncommon. 
The  Italian  for  "  It  is  well,  Patience  "  was  whispered  at  the  end  of 
the  sitting  as  though  by  direct  control  of  the  voice  by  Madame 
Elisa. 

Further  attempts  were  made  to  speak  and  write  Italian, 
but  not  much  was  said,  and  the  writing  was  not  very  legible. 
Concerning  this  Dr.  Hodgson  remarks: — 

As  I  have  mentioned  elsewhere  (Report,  pp.  293,  332), 
the  intelligence  communicating  by  writing  is  not  conscious  of 
the  act  of  writing.  The  chief  difficulty  apparently  in  getting 
another  language  written  by  the  hand  is  that  strange  words 
tend  to  be  written  phonetically  unless  they  are  thought  out 
slowly  letter  by  letter.  The  writing  is  usually  much  more 
legible  now  than  it  was  during  the  period  of  the  records 
from  which  I  am  quoting,  when  there  was  frequently  much 
diffculty  in  deciphering  even  the  simplest  English  words. 
It  was  therefore  not  surprising  that  so  little  of  the  Italian 
written  by  Madame  Elisa  was  decipherable. 

This  does  not  appear  to  be  a  strong  case,  but  the  next 
one  seems  to  me  better: 

Dr.  Hodgson  reports  the  following  case  in  a  sitting  which 
a  Mr.  Vernon  Briggs  had  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  October  1893. 
(Proc.  S.  P.  R.,  xiii.,  337,  or  Hum.  Pers.  ii.,  224.) 

The  communication  purported   to  come   from  a  Honolulu   boy 


EXAMPLES  153 

named  Kalua,  who  became  much  attached  to  Mr.  Briggs,  during  a 
six  months'  stay  of  Mr.  Briggs  in  Honolulu  in  1881,  and  who  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Briggs  back  to  Boston  under  somewhat  romantic  cir- 
cumstances in  1883.  He  was  soon  sent  back  to  his  native  island, 
but  again  returned  to  Boston,  where  he  was  shot  in  1886,  in  a 
sailor's  Bethel,  whether  intentionally  or  not  was  unknown.  There 
was  some  suspicion  against  a  Swede  who  was  imprisoned,  but  there 
was  no  evidence  against  him,  and  he  was  finally  discharged.  The 
Swede  said  that  Kalua  had  accidentally  shot  himself  with  a  revolver, 
and  eventually  confessed  that  after  the  accident  he  had  himself  hid- 
den the  revolver  behind  a  flue,  where,  after  taking  part  of  the 
chimney  down,  it  was  found.  Mr.  Briggs  had  taken  a  handkerchief 
belonging  to  Kalua  with  him  to  the  sitting.  Kalua  had  been  shot 
through  the  heart,  and  there  was  some  confusion  apparently  about 
the  locality  of  the  suffering,  "  stomach  "  and  "  side "  being  men- 
tioned, under  what  appeared  to  be  the  direct  control  of  the  voice  by 
"  Kalua,"  and  Mr.  Briggs  asked  if  it  was  Kalua,  Phinuit  then 
spoke  for  "  Kalua,"  who  said  that  he  did  not  kill  himself,  that  he 
had  been  gambling  with  the  other  man  who  disputed  with  him  and 
shot  him,  but  did  not  mean  to,  and  who  threw  the  revolver,  "  into 
the  hot  box  where  the  pepples  are"  (meaning  the  "furnace"  and 
the  "  coals  "),  and  hid  his  purse  under  the  steps  where  he  was  killed. 
"  Kalua  "  also  said  there  was  shrubbery  near  it.  The  cellar  of  the 
house  was  examined,  but  no  purse  was  found,  and  there  was  no 
shrubbery  in  the  cellar.  "  Kalua "  tried  to  write  Hawaiian,  but 
the  only  "  ordinary  "  words  deciphered  were  "  lei  "  (meaning  wreaths, 
which  he  made  daily  for  Mr.  Briggs)  which  was  written  clearly 
and  frequently,  and  an  attempt  at  "  aloha  "-greeting.  Phinuit  tried 
to  get  the  answer  to  the  question  where  Kalua's  father  was,  but 
could  only  succeed  in  getting  "  Hiram."  But  the  writing  gave  the 
answer  "  Hawaiian  Islands."  In  reply  to  the  question  which  one, 
the  answer  in  writing  was  Kawai,  but  Phinuit  said  Tawai.  The 
word  is  spelt  Kawai,  but  is  pronounced  Tawai  by  the  natives  of  the 
island  itself  and  in  the  island  where  Kalua  was  born.  The  natives  of 
the  other  islands  call  it  Kawai. 


154  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

Cases  in  which  the  lucidity  or  clairvoyant  faculty  is  not 
limited  to  the  present  but  apparently  anticipates  the  future 
are  sufficiently  important  to  deserve  a  separate  chapter.  It 
is  extremely  difficult  to  contemplate  such  a  faculty.  Hither- 
to we  have  dealt  only  with  knowledge  of  the  present  and 
the  past. 


CHAPTER   X 

PREVISION 

BUT  assertions  are  made  that  there  is  a  kind  of  lucidity 
occasionally  attainable  by  healthy  people  which  is  be- 
yond the  powers  of  any  ordinary  intelligence,  even 
aided  by  telepathy;  inasmuch  as  knowledge  is  sometimes  ex- 
hibited not  only  of  occurrences  at  a  distance  but  also  of 
events  which  have  not  yet  happened,  and  which  could  not 
by  any  process  of  reasoning  be  inferred. 

Is  it  possible  to  become  aware  of  events  before  they  have 
occurred,  by  means  other  than  ordinary  scientific  prediction? 

The  anticipation  of  future  events  is  a  power  not  at  all 
necessarily  to  be  expected  on  a  Spiritistic  or  any  other 
hypothesis ;  it  is  a  separate  question,  and  will  have  important 
bearings  of  its  own.  An  answer  to  this  question  in  the 
affirmative  may  vitally  affect  our  metaphysical  notions  of 
'  Time,"  but  will  not  of  necessity  have  an  immediate  bear- 
ing on  the  existence  in  the  universe  of  intelligences  other 
than  our  own.  A  cosmic  picture  gallery  (as  Mr.  Myers 
calls  it),  or  photographic  or  phonographic  record  of  all 
that  has  occurred  or  will  occur  in  the  universe,  may  conceiv- 
ably —  or  perhaps  not  conceivably  —  in  some  sense  exist, 
and  may  be  partly  open  and  dimly  decipherable  to  the  lucid 
part  of  the  automat'ist's  or  entranced  person's  mind. 

But  the  question  for  us  now  is  whether  we  can  obtain 
clear  and  unmistakable  proof  of  the  existence  of  this  foresee- 
ing power  in  any  form.  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  establish 
beyond  any  kind  of  doubt.  Casual  and  irresponsible  critics 

155 


156  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

have  said  that  documentary  evidence,  such  as  a  postmark 
on  a  letter  which  detailed  an  event  either  not  yet  happened  or 
certainly  not  known  by  ordinary  methods  at  the  date  of  the 
postmark  (like  a  recent  shipwreck  in  mid-ocean  for  in- 
stance), would  be  proof  positive  to  them  of  something  oc- 
cult. A  writer  in  The  Nineteenth  Century  goes  so  far  as 
to  say  that  a  document  thus  officially  verified  by  a  Post 
Office  Clerk  would  be  worth  thousands  of  pounds  to  the 
British  Museum.  If  so  it  would  be  singularly  easy  to  get 
rich.  I  believe  that  a  postmark  on  an  envelope  would  satisfy 
some  of  these  critics,  but  a  postmark  on  the  document  itself 
would  be  entirely  convincing. 

I  wonder  some  enterprising  forger  has  not  endeavoured 
to  gull  a  leading  journal  by  an  elaborate  account,  say,  of 
the  Victoria  disaster,  or  the  Santander  explosion,  or  the 
Messina  earthquake,  written  on  foolscap  paper  transmitted 
blank  through  the  post,  at  small  cost,  in  preparation  for  any 
such  striking  event;  or  perhaps  on  paper  subsequently  covered 
with  previous  postmarks  by  a  genial  Post  Office  friend,  and 
decorated  with  red  tape  by  a  live  Government  clerk ! 

The  feeling  that  everything  done  by  a  Post  Office  official 
is  conclusive,  is  of  the  same  order  as  the  opinion  that 
barristers  or  criminal  judges  or  medical  practitioners  are  the 
only  people  fit  to  investigate  unusual  mental  phenomena,  be- 
cause their  practice  makes  them  familiar  with  the  warpings 
of  the  human  mind. 

But  to  consider  the  case  of  a  medical  practitioner;  as  I 
understand  a  doctor's  business,  it  is  to  cure  an  abnormality 
if  he  can,  not  to  prolong  and  investigate  it.  True,  a  doctor 
may  be  a  scientific  man  in  addition,  but  qua  physician  he  is 
out  of  his  element  as  a  general  investigator,  and  as  a  leading 
practitioner  he  has  very  little  spare  time.  Were  it  not  so, 
the  record  against  the  profession  —  the  attitude  the  main 


PREVISION  157 

body  of  doctors  has  taken  or  used  to  take  to  everything  new 
—  would  be  not  only  pitiful,  as  it  is,  but  essentially  disgrace- 
ful. To  this  day  I  expect  that  in  some  countries  there  are 
promising  subjects,  some  for  investigation  and  some  for 
psychical  cure,  lost  both  to  science  and  to  themselves  within 
the  walls  of  asylums. 

But  about  this  question  of  postmarks.  Let  it  not  be 
thought  that  I  claim  that  their  evidence  is  worthless.  As 
evidence  subsidiary  to  testimony  they  may  be  very  valuable, 
and  every  effort  should  be  made  to  get  them;  my  contention 
only  is  that  they  do  not  dispense  with  testimony. 

This  I  hold  is  the  function  of  all  circumstantial  evidence, 
or  of  any  automatic  record;  it  lessens  the  chance  of  self- 
delusion  or  over-exuberant  imagination,  it  can  never  be  held 
to  guard  against  fraud.  If  a  couple  of  friends  by  inter- 
changing letters,  with  their  dates  verified  in  some  cold 
blooded  official  manner,  are  able  to  establish  foreknowledge 
of  events  such  as  could  hardly  be  guessed  or  inferred,  then 
their  testimony  is  strengthened  by  the  date-marks  to  this 
extent: — Either  the  things  happened  as  they  say,  or  they 
are  in  some  sort  of  collusion  to  bear  false  witness  and  de- 
ceive. One  could  only  grant  them  the  loophole  of  self-de- 
ception on  the  alternative  of  something  very  like  insanity. 

That  is  how  these  automatic  records,  photographs  and 
the  like,  may  be  so  valuable  —  as  supplementary  to  human 
testimony  —  never  as  substitutes  for  it. 

ANTICIPATION  OF  EVENTS 

Have  we  any  trustworthy  evidence  at  all  as  to  the  power 
of  foreseeing  unpredictable  events?  Strange  to  say,  we 
have,  but  it  is  not  yet  sufficient  in  volume  to  jus^y  any 
generalisation :  it  is  only  enough  to  cause  us  to  keep  an  open 


158  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

mind,  even  in  this  direction,  and  be  ready  critically  to 
scrutinise  future  evidence  as  it  arrives.  Mrs.  Sidgwick's 
paper  on  the  evidence  for  Premonitions  is  in  vol.  v.  of 
Proceedings  S.  P.  R. 

I  attach  no  high  importance  to  predictions  of  illness  and 
death:  they  may  represent  an  unusual  power  of  diagnosis, 
but  need  not  represent  anything  more.  Besides,  a  great 
number  of  these  predictions  fail;  so  much  so  that  a  predic- 
tion of  this  kind  now  hardly  perturbs  an  experienced  person 
who  receives  it. 

And  even  the  successful  prevision  of  an  accident  must  be 
attributed  as  a  rule  to  accidental  concordance  unless  it  is 
accompanied  by  an  exceptional  amount  of  detail. 

The  following  case  is  contained  in  Mrs.  Sidgwick's  paper, 
Proceedings,  vol.  v.,  p.  333.  It  is  from  an  engine-driver 
who  was  interviewed  afterwards  by  an  agent  of  the  S.  P.  R. 
in  America. 

[In  1853]  I  was  firing  a  locomotive,  a  fine  new  passenger  engine, 
built  for  speed,  and  just  from  the  shop.  I  thought  myself  lucky  to 
be  on  such  a  fine  engine,  and  was  proud  of  my  position.  One  night, 
May  29th,  1853,  I  dreamed  that  the  train  ran  through  a  shallow 
cut,  and  came  out  on  a  high  stone  bridge,  over  which  the  train 
passed,  and  then  the  engine  turned  over  down  the  bank  some  70 
feet,  into  the  river.  I  mentioned  my  dream  the  next  morning  to  the 
family  with  whom  I  was  living.  The  lady  [now  dead]  told  me  I 
was  going  to  be  killed,  but  I  told  her  that  in  my  dream  I  had  as- 
surance that  I  should  not  be  hurt.  On  the  second  morning  after 
my  dream,  we  were  sent  over  a  part  of  the  road  with  which  I  was 
not  familiar,  and  presently  came  to  a  shallow  cut,  and  I  saw  a 
number  of  men  ahead  on  the  track.  The  engineer  was  near-sighted 
and  did  not  see  them.  I  called  to  him  to  stop  the  engine;  he  tried 
to  do  so,  but  the  track  was  wet,  and  seeing  that  part  of  the  track 
ahead  had  been  taken  up,  he  jumped  from  the  engine.  I  remained 
on  it  and  tried  to  stop  it.  Before  this  could  be  done,  we  were  on 


PREVISION  159 

a  stone  bridge,  and  I  could  not  get  off.  The  engine  left  the  track, 
and  at  the  other  end  of  the  bridge  turned  over  twice  before  it 
reached  the  bottom,  and  I  with  it,  receiving  but  a  small  scratch, 
ho<w  I  do  not  know.  I  climbed  the  bank,  and  looking  back,  saw 
just  what  I  had  seen  in  my  dream.  The  bridge  was  200  feet 
long,  with  five  stone  arches,  54  feet  high,  and  the  bank  down 
which  the  engine  rolled  70  feet. 

THE  MARMONTEL  CASE 

The  perception  of  incidents  at  a  distance  is  common 
enough,  but  the  perception  of  incidents  in  the  future  is  rare. 
The  following  selection  from  experiences  of  this  kind  re- 
ceived by  Mrs.  Verrall  must  serve  as  an  example  of  the  few 
trustworthy  cases  I  know  of.  (Proc.  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xx.,  p. 

33i.) 

On  December  nth,  1901, —  i.  e.f  towards  the  end  of  the 
first  year  in  which  Mrs.  Verrall  had  developed  the  power 
of  automatic  writing  —  her  hand  wrote  as  follows : — 

Nothing  too  mean,  the  trivial  helps,  gives  confidence.  Hence 
this.  Frost  and  a  candle  in  the  dim  light.  Marmontel,  he  was  read- 
ing on  a  sofa  or  in  bed  —  there  was  only  a  candle's  light.  She  will 
surely  remember  this.  The  book  was  lent,  not  his  own  —  he  talked 
about  it. 

Then  there  appeared  a  fanciful  but  unmistakable  attempt 
at  the  name  Sidgwick. 

No  meaning  was  conveyed  by  the  above,  but  the  conclud- 
ing effort  naturally  suggested  that  Mrs.  Sidgwick  should  be 
applied  to.  This  was  done;  and  her  reply,  received  on 
December  I7th,  said  that  she  could  make  nothing  of  it  but 
would  report  if  the  name  Marmontel  turned  up. 

Mrs.  Verrall  was  now  away  from  home  and  had  decided 
to  abandon  writing  till  her  return.  But  all  the  i7th  she 


i6o  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

was  so  disturbed  by  a  desire  to  write  that  she  made  time, 
and  that  evening  obtained  the  following: — 

1  wanted  to  write.  Marmontel  is  right.  It  was  a  French  book, 
a  Memoir  I  think.  Passy  may  help,  Souvenirs  de  Passy,  or  Fleury. 
Marmontel  was  not  on  the  cover  —  the  book  was  bound  and  was 
lent  —  two  volumes  in  old-fashioned  binding  and  print.  It  is  not 
in  any  papers  —  it  is  an  attempt  to  make  some  one  remember  —  an 
incident. 

Soon  after  my  return  to  Cambridge  —  Mrs.  Verrall,  re- 
ports —  about  December  25th,  1901,  I  was  looking  through 
a  list  of  books  —  which  I  had  glanced  at  before  December 
nth  —  and  found  an  advertisement  of  "Marmontel, 
Moral  Tales,  selected  and  translated  by  G.  Saintsbury." 
This,  strange  though  such  an  admission  may  seem,  was,  as 
far  as  I  could  remember,  my  first  conscious  knowledge  of 
Marmontel  as  a  French  writer. 

So  ends  the  record  of  the  obtaining  of  the  script.  The 
sentence  in  the  first  portion :  "  She  will  surely  remember 
this  "  is  a  characteristic  sotto  voce  remark  which  is  not  in- 
frequent in  these  scripts, —  having  the  same  sort  of  significa- 
tion as  the  terminal  sentence  of  the  second  portion.  It 
means  that  Mrs.  Verrall  herself  will  surely  remember  hav- 
ing obtained  the  writing,  when  at  some  future  time  the  in- 
cident described  is  referred  to. 

Now  begins  the  verification  by  quite  unexpected  means. 

In  January  1902  Mrs.  Verrall  happened  to  write  to  a 
friend  of  hers  named  Mr.  Marsh,  asking  him  to  come  for 
a  week-end  visit;  and  he  replied  fixing  March  ist.  She 
had  had  no  recent  communication  with  him  since  June  1901. 
On  February  23rd  she  sent  him  a  post  card  to  remind  him 
of  his  visit,  and  he  replied  with  a  letter  on  February  24th. 

Mrs.  Verrall  then  reports  as  follows : — 


PREVISION  161 

On  March  ist  Mr.  Marsh  arrived,  and  that  evening  at 
dinner  he  mentioned  that  he  had  been  reading  Marmontel. 
I  asked  if  he  had  read  the  Moral  Tales,  and  he  replied  that 
it  was  the  Memoirs.  I  was  interested  in  this  reference  to 
Marmontel,  and  asked  Mr.  Marsh  for  particulars  about  his 
reading,  at  the  same  time  explaining  the  reasons  for  my 
curiosity.  He  then  told  me  that  he  got  the  book  from  the 
London  Library,  and  took  the  first  volume  only  to  Paris 
with  him,  where  he  read  it  on  the  evening  of  February  2Oth, 
and  again  on  February  2ist.  On  each  occasion  he  read 
by  the  light  of  a  candle;  on  the  2Oth  he  was  in  bed,  on  the 
2ist  lying  on  two  chairs.  He  talked  about  the  book  to 
the  friends  with  whom  he  was  staying  in  Paris.  The 
weather  was  cold,  but  there  was,  he  said,  no  frost.  The 
London  Library  copy  is  bound,  as  most  of  their  books  are, 
not  in  modern  binding,  but  the  name  "  Marmontel  "  is  on 
the  back  of  the  volume.  The  edition  has  three  volumes;  in 
Paris  Mr.  Marsh  had  only  one  volume,  but  at  the  time  of 
his  visit  to  us  he  had  read  the  second  also. 

I  asked  him  whether  "  Passy "  or  "  Fleury "  would 
"help,"  and  he  replied  that  Fleury's  name  certainly  oc- 
curred in  the  book,  in  a  note;  he  was  not  sure  about  Passy, 
but  undertook  to  look  it  up  on  his  return  to  town,  and  to 
ascertain,  as  he  could  by  reference  to  the  book,  what  part 
of  the  first  volume  he  had  been  reading  in  Paris.  He  is  in 
the  habit  of  reading  in  bed,  but  has  electric  light  in  his  bed- 
room at  home,  so  that  he  had  not  read  "  in  bed  or  on  a 
sofa  by  candlelight "  for  months,  until  he  read  Marmontel 
in  Paris. 

On  his  return  to  town  Mr.  Marsh  wrote  to  me  (March  4, 
1902),  that  on  February  2ist  while  lying  on  two  chairs  he 
read  a  chapter  in  the  first  volume  of  Marmontel's  Memoirs 
describing  the  finding  at  Passy  of  a  panel,  etc.,  connected 
with  a  story  in  which  Fleury  plays  an  important  part. 

It  will  thus  be  noted  that  the  script  in  December,  1901, 
describes  (as  [presumably]  past)  an  incident  which  actually 
occurred  two  and  a  half  months  later,  in  February,  1902, — 
an  incident  which  at  the  time  of  writing  was  not  likely  to 
have  been  foreseen  by  any  one.  I  ascertained  from  Mr. 


1 62  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

Marsh  that  the  idea  of  reading  Marmontel  occurred  to  him 
not  long  before  his  visit  to  Paris.  It  is  probable  that  had 
he  not  seen  me  almost  immediately  upon  his  return,  when  his 
mind  was  full  of  the  book,  I  should  never  have  heard  of  his 
reading  it,  and  therefore  not  have  discovered  the  application 
of  the  scripts  of  December  nth  and  lyth. 

The  description  is  definite,  and  in  the  main  accurate. 
There  are,  however,  errors : —  Though  the  weather  was 
cold,  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  actually  freezing  on 
either  of  the  two  nights  in  question;  the  book  was  not  in 
two  volumes  only,  as  seems  implied,  though  only  two 
volumes  had  been  read  when  the  incident  was  related  to  me ; 
the  name  Marmontel  was  on  the  back  of  the  book,  though 
not  on  the  face  of  the  cover;  the  binding,  though  not  modern, 
can  hardly  be  described  as  old  fashioned.  But  the  reference 
to  Passy  and  Fleury  —  names  which,  so  far  as  I  can  dis- 
cover are  not  together  in  any  passage  of  Marmontel's 
Memoirs  except  that  read  by  Mr.  Marsh  on  February  2ist 
—  is  a  precise  and,  I  think,  remarkable  coincidence. 

Two  other  points  may  be  noted : — 

(1)  That  the  script  on  December  iyth  did  not  accept 
the  suggestion  that  the  name  Marmontel  had  anything  to 
do  with  Mrs.  Sidgwick; 

(2)  The  omission  to  give  any  name  to  the  reader  of 
Marmontel. 

This  latter  kind  of  reticence  is  characteristic  of  the  script; 
and  although  it  may  be  superficially  regarded  from  a  sar- 
castic point  of  view  it  is  really  essential  to  the  verification  of 
the  prevision,  because  if  Mr.  Marsh's  name  had  been  given, 
Mrs.  Verrall  would  naturally  have  written  to  him  a 
premature  inquiry,  which  would  have  spoilt  the  whole  thing. 

But  inasmuch  as  she  had  no  inkling  of  Mr.  Marsh  in 
connexion  with  it,  that  gentleman  was  left  unconsciously  to 
carry  out  the  anticipation,  entirely  ignorant  of  it  and  unin- 
fluenced by  it. 


PREVISION  163 

The  anticipation  received  in  December  was  fulfilled  in 
February  and  was  reported  on  in  March. 

The  fact  that  the  anticipation  was  received  in  December 
is  proved  by  the  preservation  of  Mrs.  Sidgwick's  letter  of 
December  lyth  saying  that  she  could  make  nothing  of  it, 
but  that  if  the  name  turned  up  in  some  manuscripts  she  was 
then  reading  she  would  let  Mrs.  Verrall  know. 

DISCUSSION  OF  POSSIBILITY 

In  his  book  Mr.  Myers  contemplated  the  occurrence  of 
prevision,  and  dealt  with  it  in  many  an  eloquent  passage. 
The  following  is  too  eloquent  for  the  incident  just  quoted, 
but  it  serves  to  illustrate  his  view  of  the  possibility  of  such 
things : — 

Few  men  have  pondered  long  on  these  problems  of  Past 
and  Future  without  wondering  whether  Past  and  Future  be 
in  very  truth  more  than  a  name  —  whether  we  may  not  be 
apprehending  as  a  stream  of  sequence  that  which  is  an  ocean 
of  co-existence,  and  slicing  our  subjective  years  and  centuries 
from  timeless  and  absolute  things.  The  precognitions  dealt 
with  here,  indeed,  hardly  overpass  the  life  of  the  individual 
percipient.  Let  us  keep  to  that  small  span,  and  let  us 
imagine  that  a  whole  earth-life  is  in  reality  an  absolutely 
instantaneous  although  an  infinitely  complex  phenomenon. 
Let  us  suppose  that  my  transcendental  self  discerns  with 
equal  directness  and  immediacy  every  element  of  this 
phenomenon ;  but  that  my  empirical  self  receives  each  element 
mediately  and  through  media  involving  different  rates  of 
retardation ;  just  as  I  receive  the  lightning  more  quickly  than 
the  thunder.  May  not  then  seventy  years  intervene  be- 
tween my  perceptions  of  birth  and  death  as  easily  as  seven 
seconds  between  m}  perceptions  of  the  flash  and  the  peal? 
And  may  not  some  inter-communication  of  consciousness 
enable  the  wider  self  to  call  to  the  narrower,  the  more 


1 64  SPONTANEOUS  TELEPATHY 

central  to  the  more  external,  "  At  such  an  hour  this  shock 
will  reach  you!     Listen  for  the  nearing  roar!  " 

But  let  us  consider  whether  there  is  any  way  of  regarding 
the  fulfilment  of  a  meaningless  anticipation  —  such  as  this 
of  the  Marmontel  case,  just  quoted  —  without  trenching  on 
so  difficult  a  question  as  the  reality  of  time? 

I  can  only  suggest  something  of  the  nature  of  hypnotic 
suggestion,  automatically  effected.  An  outside  or,  let  us 
say,  a  subliminal  intelligence  gets  the  record  made  by  Mrs. 
Verrall  that  an  unspecified  man  will  read  Marmontel  on 
a  frosty  night  lying  on  a  sofa  by  candle  light,  etc.,  and  then 
sets  to  work  to  try  and  secure  that  within  the  next  two  or 
three  months  some  man  shall  do  it  —  some  one  who  is 
sufficiently  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Verrall  to  make  it  reasonably 
likely  that  in  subsequent  conversation  she  may  sooner  or 
later  hear  of  the  circumstance. 

I  make  the  suggestion  for  what  it  is  worth,  as  the  only 
way  that  occurs  to  me  of  avoiding  still  more  difficult  no- 
tions;—  provided  of  course  we  do  not  dismiss  the  whole 
thing  as  invention  —  which  is  preposterous, —  or  as  chance, 
which  in  my  judgment  is  put  out  of  court  by  the  amount 
of  detail,  and  by  other  incidents  of  the  same  general  nature 
as  this  one  which  have  also  occurred  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script. 

It  may  be  asked  what  possible  object  there  can  be  in  thus 
predicting  a  perfectly  unimportant  and  commonplace  inci- 
dent. 

The  object,  to  those  associated  with  the  work  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  is  manifest  enough. 

During  the  lifetime  of  Professor  Sidgwick  and  Mr. 
Myers  we  often  discussed  what  sort  of  evidence  could  be 
regarded  as  conclusive  as  to  the  existence  of  supernormal, 
even  if  not  posthumous,  intelligence.  And  it  was  agreed 


PREVISION  165 

that  prediction  of  future  events  of  an  insignificant  kind, 
such  as  could  not  be  inferred  or  deduced  by  however  wide 
a  knowledge  of  contemporary  events, —  incidents  which 
were  outside  the  range  of  any  amount  of  historical  or  mathe- 
matical or  political  skill, —  would  be  conclusive,  if  obtained 
in  quantity  sufficient  to  eliminate  chance.  It  did  not  at  all 
follow  that  such  anticipations  were  possible, —  so  far  as  we 
could  tell  they  might  be  beyond  not  only  normal  but  super- 
normal powers, —  but  if  possible  it  was  realised  that  they 
would  be  singularly  satisfactory. 

Accordingly  it  is  eminently  characteristic  of  an  intelli- 
gence purporting  to  be  associated  in  any  way  with  the  late 
Professor  Sidgwick  or  the  late  Mr.  Myers  that  attempts 
of  that  kind  should  be  made.  Several  attempts  have  now 
been  made  with  more  or  less  success,  and  I  have  selected 
one  of  them.  Others  will  be  found  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  paper 
(Proceedings,  vol.  xx.)  in  the  chapter  called  "  Future 
Events." 


CHAPTER   XI 

AUTOMATIC  WRITING  AND  TRANCE  SPEECH 

WE  now  enter  upon  the  more  detailed  consideration 
of  a  group  of  facts,  in  which  of  late  years  the 
Society  has  been  remarkably  prolific  —  and  the 
general  truth  of  which  is  accepted  without  hesitation  by  all 
the  prominent  members;  who,  though  they  differ  in  their 
interpretation,  yet  receive  the  evidence  with  practical  una- 
nimity as  to  its  interest  and  importance  —  receive  it,  that 
is  to  say,  with  all  the  unanimity  that  we  desire  or  expect. 

At  the  end  of  the  last  chapter  we  were  discussing  the  pos- 
sibility of  the  rather  vague  and  ill-defined  hypothesis  that 
vistas  of  unlimited  information  lie  open  to  people  in  a  clair- 
voyant state,  as  if  during  unconsciousness  a  psychical  region 
were  entered  wherein  the  ordinary  barriers  between  soul 
and  soul,  or  mind  and  mind,  are  broken  down.  Even  this 
surmise  must  not  be  rejected  without  examination,  if  we 
are  driven  to  it,  but  it  is  not  a  known  vera  causa.  A  hy- 
pothesis of  this  kind  is  referred  to  at  the  end  of  Chapter 
VIII. 

Naturally  it  is  only  when  all  normal  means  of  obtaining 
information  have  been  scrupulously  avoided  that  any  prob- 
lem arises;  and  the  first  hypothesis  that  must  be  made,  when- 
ever normal  explanations  thoroughly  break  down,  is  that 
telepathy  of  some  kind  is  occurring  from  some  living  person 
and  is  influencing  the  sensitive  mind  or  brain  of  the  un- 
conscious or  partially  unconscious  operator,  after  the  fashion 
of  an  objectified  and  sympathetic  dream. 

169 


170  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

This  hypothesis  is  extremely  elastic,  and  can  be  stretched 
to  cover  an  immense  area;  indeed,  to  get  beyond  it,  and 
definitely  find  a  region  which  it  will  not  cover,  is  exceedingly 
difficult.  For  twenty  years  at  least  members  of  the  society 
have  been  intimately  acquainted  with  excellent  and  astonish- 
ing examples  of  trance  speaking  and  automatic  writing,  and 
yet  they  have  hesitated  to  make  full  use  of  all  this  material, 
and  have  refrained  from  proceeding  in  the  direction  towards 
which  it  undoubtedly  points,  so  long  as  there  was  a  chance 

—  even  a  remote  chance  —  that  an  established  variety  of 
telepathy  or  some  extension  of  it  might  constitute  a  suffi- 
cient explanation.     Some  of  us  hold  that  telepathy  from  liv- 
ing people  is  still  sufficient  —  or  at  least  as  sufficient  as  it 
has  ever  been  —  and  that  no  further  step  beyond  it  need 
be  taken.     Others  are  beginning  to  be  impressed  with  the 
idea  —  not  without  qualms  and  surviving  hesitation  —  that 
the  time  has  come,  or  is  coming,  when  it  may  be  legitimate 
and  necessary  to  take  a  further  step,  and  to  admit,  at  any 
rate  as  a  tentative  hypothesis,  the  view  which  undoubtedly 
the  phenomena  themselves  suggest, —  the  view  they  have  all 
the  time  been,  as  it  were,  passing  upon  us.     This  is  the 
hypothesis  of  actual  telepathic  or  telergic  influence   from 
some  outside  intelligence  —  the   surviving  intelligence,   ap- 
parently, of  some  of  those  who  have  recently  lived  on  this 
planet,  and  who  are  now  represented  as  occasionally,  under 
great  difficulties  and  discouragements,  endeavouring  to  make 
known  the  fact  that  they  can  communicate  with  us,  by  aid 
of  such  intervening  mechanism  as  is  placed  at  their  disposal 

—  namely,  the  brain,  nerve  and  muscle  of  an  automatist  or 
medium.     The  assertion  made  is  that,  during  the  temporary 
suspension  of  the  normal  control,  discarnate  intelligences  can 
with  difficulty  make  use  of  these  organs  for  the  purpose  of 
translating  their  own  thought  into  mechanical  movement, 


AUTOMATIC  WRITING  171 

and  so  producing  some  kind  of  speech  or  writing  in  the 
physical  world.  Such  utilisation  of  physiological  apparatus, 
by  an  intelligence  to  which  it  does  not  normally  belong,  is 
what  is  called  motor  automatism,  or  "  telergy,"  or  popularly 
—  when  of  an  extreme  kind — "possession." 

It  does  not  by  any  means  follow  that  the  agent  or  intelli- 
gence, active  in  this  unusual  experience,  is  necessarily  that 
of  a  departed  person,  but  that  is  undoubtedly  the  form  which 
the  phenomenon  often  takes;  so  if  we  resign  ourselves  to 
be  guided  by  it  at  all,  we  may  as  well  try  how  far  the 
claim  openly  and  persistently  made  will  carry  us,  before 
definitely  discarding  it.  And  if  we  are  going  to  try  it  at 
all,  I  urge  that  we  had  better  try  it  frankly  and  thoroughly : 
it  had  better  be  accepted  provisionally  as  a  working 
hypothesis  and  pressed  as  far  as  it  will  go.  That  is  the 
way  to  test  any  provisional  hypothesis.  Hesitate  as  long 
as  you  like  before  giving  a  theory  even  provisional  and  ten- 
tative acceptance;  but  once  having  determined  on  testing  a 
key  or  theoretical  solution,  then  utilise  it  to  the  utmost. 
Try  it  in  all  the  locks;  and  if  it  continually  fails  to  open 
them,  reject  it;  but  do  not  hesitate  each  time  over  the  in- 
sertion of  the  key.  Hesitate  before  accepting  a  working 
hypothesis,  not  after.  If  false,  its  falseness  will  become 
apparent  by  its  failure  and  inability  to  fit  the  facts. 

Mr.  Myers  himself  pointed  out  in  Human  Personality, 
vol.  i.  p.  250,  that  if  we  allow  ourselves  to  contemplate  such 
a  hypothesis  it  will  at  least  fit  in  with  many  other  facts; 
the  innovation  that  we  are  called  upon  to  make  is  to  suppose 
that  segments  of  the  personality  can  operate  in  apparent 
separation  from  the  organism. 

"  Such  a  supposition,  of  course,  could  not  have  been  started 
without  proof  of  telepathy,  and  could  with  difficulty  be  sus- 
tained without  proof  of  survival  of  death.  But,  given  telep- 


172  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

athy,  we  have  some  psychical  agency,  connected  with  man, 
operating  apart  from  his  organism.  Given  survival,  we 
have  an  element  of  his  personality  —  to  say  the  least  of  it  — 
operating  when  his  organism  is  destroyed.  There  is  there- 
fore no  very  great  additional  burden  in  supposing  that  an 
element  of  his  personality  may  operate  apart  from  his  or- 
ganism, while  that  organism  still  exists. 

"  Ce  n'est  que  le  premier  pas  qui  coute.  If  we  have  once 
got  a  man's  thought  operating  apart  from  his  body  —  if  my 
fixation  of  attention  on  the  two  of  diamonds  does  somehow 
so  modify  another  man's  brain  a  few  yards  off  that  he  seems 
to  see  the  two  of  diamonds  floating  before  him  —  there  is 
no  obvious  halting  place  on  his  side  till  we  come  to  "  posses- 
sion "  by  a  departed  spirit,  and  there  is  no  obvious  halting 
place  on  my  side  till  we  come  to  "  travelling  clairvoyance," 
with  a  corresponding  visibility  of  my  own  phantasm  to  other 
persons  in  the  scenes  which  I  spiritually  visit." 

MIND  AND  BODY 

So  let  us  consider  in  the  first  place  what  occurs  during 
the  ordinary  process  of  speaking  or  writing  —  speaking  or 
writing  of  the  most  normal  or  commonplace  kind.  An  idea 
is  conceived  in  the  mind,  but  in  order  to  achieve  some  effect 
in  the  material  world  it  must  move  matter.  The  move- 
ment or  rearrangement  of  matter  is  all  that  we  ourselves 
are  able  to  accomplish  in  the  physical  universe :  the  whole 
of  our  direct  terrestrial  activities  resolve  themselves  into  this, 
the  production  of  changes  of  motion. 

But  a  thought  belongs  to  a  different  order  of  existence, 
—  whatever  it  is,  it  is  not  material;  it  is  neither  matter  nor 
force;  it  has  no  direct  power  over  matter;  directly  and  un- 
aided it  can  move  nothing.  How  then  can  it  get  itself 
translated  in  terms  of  motion?  How  can  it,  from  the 
psychical  category,  produce  a  physical  effect? 

Physiology  informs  us,  not  indeed  of  the  whole  manner 


AUTOMATIC  WRITING  173 

of  the   achievement,   but  of  part  at  least  of  the  method. 

The  thing  that  can  move  matter  is  called  muscle.  In 
muscle  is  located  the  necessary  energy,  which  only  requires 
to  be  stimulated  into  activity  in  order  to  be  transformed  into 
visible  motion  and  transferred  in  any  required  direction. 

In  a  living  body  means  are  provided  for  stimulating  its 
muscles,  in  the  shape  of  an  intricate  arrangement  of  nerve 
fibres,  which,  when  themselves  excited  in  one  of  many  ways, 
can  cause  the  muscle  to  contract.  This  part  of  the  process 
is  not  indeed  fully  understood,  but  it  is  familiarly  known. 
The  excitation  of  the  nerves  may  be  a  mere  random  tweak- 
ing, or  irritation,  by  a  mechanical  or  electric  goad;  but  in 
a  living  organism  it  can  also  be  produced  in  a  more  mean- 
ingful and  economical  fashion,  by  the  discharge  of  energy 
from  a  central  cell,  such  as  exists  in  the  cortex  or  grey  mat- 
ter of  the  brain.  This  process  may  also  be  considered  as 
comparatively  though  not  completely  understood :  the  central 
ganglion  is  clearly  the  direct  means  of  getting  the  nerve  ex- 
cited, the  muscle  contracted,  and  the  direct  motion  produced. 
But  what  is  it  that  stimulates  the  brain?  What  is  it  that 
desires  the  particular  motion  and  liberates  energy  from  the 
appropriate  brain  cell?  In  some  cases  it  is  mere  reflex  ac- 
tion ;  it  is  some  stimulus  which  has  arrived  from  the  periph- 
eral nerve-endings,  so  as  to  evoke  response  in  a  central 
ganglion  —  say,  in  the  spine  or  the  cerebellum ;  v/hencc  the 
stimulus  has  proceeded  to  a  neighbouring  cell  and  so  to  the 
efferent  nerve  fibres.  In  that  case  no  consciousness  is  in- 
volved; the  psychical  element  is  absent;  there  is  no  intelli- 
gence or  will  in  the  process,  nor  any  necessary  sensation. 
The  wriggling  of  a  worm,  and  many  contortions  of  the 
lower  animals,  may  be  —  shall  we  say  may  be  hoped  to  be? 
—  of  this  order. 

But  I  am  not  taking  the  case  of  reflex  and  unconscious 


174  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

action;  I  am  definitely  postulating  a  thought  or  idea  con- 
ceived in  the  mind  —  operating,  so  to  speak,  on  the  will 
—  and  determining  that  there  shall  be  a  response  in  the 
material  world.  By  what  means  the  stimulus  gets  out  of 
the  psychical  region  into  the  physical,  and  liberates  energy 
from  the  brain  centre,  I  have  not  the  remotest  idea;  nor,  I 
venture  to  say,  has  any  one. 

The  operation  is  at  present  mysterious.  But  conspicu- 
ously it  occurs;  it  is  evidently  a  rational  and  I  should  say 
an  ultimately  intelligible  process, —  a  process,  that  is  to  say, 
on  which  discovery  is  possible,  though  at  present  there  has 
been  no  discovery  concerning  it.  Somehow  or  other  the 
connexion  is  established;  and  by  long  habit  it  seems  to  be 
established  in  normal  cases  without  difficulty  —  nay,  rather 
with  singular  ease,  as  when  a  pianist  executes  in  miraculous 
fashion  a  complicated  sonata. 

Things  may  go  wrong,  energy  may  be  liberated  in  the 
wrong  direction,  the  wrong  muscles  may  be  stimulated,  so 
that  stammering  and  contortions  result.  Or  the  mental  con- 
nexion may  be  in  a  state  of  suspense,  the  mind  may  be  un- 
able to  get  at  the  rigM  centre,  so  to  speak,  and  may  refrain 
from  acting  on  any  for  a  time;  in  which  case  we  have  hesi- 
tation, aphasia,  feebleness  of  many  kinds,  up  to  paralysis. 
Or  these  effects  may  be  due  to  faults  and  dislocation  in  the 
physiological  mechanism, —  faults  which  can  perhaps  be  dis- 
covered and  set  right.  If  the  brain  centres  are  fatigued, 
also,  the  response  is  weak  and  uncertain.  But  when  every- 
thing physiological  is  in  good  health,  and  when  the  conscious 
self  is  in  good  condition,  with  a  definite  thought  that  it 
wants  to  convey,  then  it  appears  to  be  able  to  play  upon  the 
brain,  as  the  musician  plays  upon  a  keyboard,  and  to  get  its 
psychical  content  translated  into  terms  of  mechanical  mo- 
tion; so  that  other  intelligences,  sufficiently  sympathetic  and 


AUTOMATIC  WRITING  175 

suitably  provided  with  receptive  mechanism,  can  be  made 
more  or  less  aware  of  the  idea  intended  to  be  conveyed. 
Which  means  that,  by  aid  of  their  nerve  fibres  and  brain 
centres,  mechanical  movements  can  be  translated  back  into 
thought  once  more. 

That  is  the  usual  process,  from  mind  to  mind  through 
physiological  apparatus  and  physical  mechanism.  The 
physical  mechanism  is  a  neutral  intermediary  of  non-living 
matter,  belonging  to  nobody;  or  rather  belonging  equally 
to  everybody.  We  can  all  throw  the  air  into  vibration; 
and  at  some  public  meetings  everybody  does  so,  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  with  some  resulting  confusion.  We  can  all 
write  with  ink;  and  if  need  be  we  can  dip  our  pens  into 
our  neighbour's  inkstand  and  use  his  desk,  though  with  some 
loss  of  convenience ; —  we  find  it  difficult  to  lay  our  hands 
upon  his  notepaper,  and  it  is  not  efficacious  if,  on  finding 
his  cheque-book,  we  proceed  to  fill  up  and  sign  his  cheques. 
The  identity  of  the  scribe  then  becomes  an  important  con- 
sideration. Pretended  identity  in  such  cases  may  perturb 
the  social  conscience,  and  be  stigmatised  not  merely  as  un- 
recognised and  wrongful  possession,  but  as  fraud. 

Thus  of  all  existing  forms  of  matter  there  are  certainly 
some  which  can  be  used  intelligently  though  temporarily  by 
people  to  whom  they  do  not  belong.  But  whatever  may 
be  the  undiscriminating  communism  of  the  main  part  of  the 
physical  universe,  the  physiological  part  is  undoubtedly  ap- 
propriated by  individuals;  body  No.  i  belongs  definitely  to 
operator  No.  i,  and  body  No.  2  to  operator  No.  2.  And 
the  common  idea  —  I  might  say  the  common-sense  idea  — 
is  that  operator  No.  i  is  entirely  limited  to  control  over 
his  own  physiological  apparatus,  and  has  no  means  of 
getting  at  the  apparatus  of  another  person,  in  any  direct 
manner,  or  otherwise  than  through  neutral  physical  means. 


176  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

That  is  the  natural  primd  facie  notion,  based  upon  ordinary 
experience;  but  it  need  not  be  exactly  true  or  complete, — 
facts  may  turn  up  which  suggest  something  different  or  sup- 
plementary. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  telepathy  has  suggested  —  without 
any  necessary  reference  to  the  physiological  part  of  the  bus- 
iness —  that  mind  can  act  directly  on  mind,  and  can  thereby 
indirectly  operate  on  the  physical  world  through  the  or- 
ganism of  another  person.  But  cases  also  occur  where  the 
mind  of  the  second  person  appears  to  be  left  out  of  the  pro- 
cess altogether;  he  may  be  thinking  his  own  thoughts  or  do- 
ing nothing  particular, —  in  a  state  of  unconsciousness 
perhaps,  or  at  any  rate  of  inattention, —  and  yet  his  physio- 
logical mechanism  may  be  set  in  action,  and  his  physical 
neighbourhood  affected  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  a  stimu- 
lus proceeding  not  from  himself  at  all,  but  from  the  mind 
of  another  person;  who  in  this  case  must  be  conceived  as 
operating  not  upon  the  second  mind,  but  directly  upon  its 
brain.  Or  if  not  upon  the  brain,  then  perhaps  upon  some 
other  portion  of  the  nervous  system, —  say,  upon  spinal  or 
other  ganglia  not  essentially  or  necessarily  associated  with 
consciousness,  and  not  arousing  any  consciousness,  but  stimu- 
lating the  parts  usually  controlled  by  the  subconsciousness, 
—  the  parts  which  regulate  the  beating  of  the  heart,  the 
respiration  of  the  lungs,  the  digestion  or  secretions  of  the 
body. 

Assuming  that  such  a  thing  is  possible,  assuming  that  a 
mind  can  operate,  not  only  as  usual  on  its  own  body,  not 
only  telepathically  as  supposed  on  another  mind,  but  directly 
and  telergically  upon  another  body,  then  that  is  exactly  what 
is  meant  by  a  case  of  incipient  or  partial  possession. 

So  far,  it  may  be  said,  we  have  no  a  priori  reason  to 
doubt  its  occurrence,  and  no  a  priori  reason  to  expect  it. 


AUTOMATIC  WRITING  177 

We  know  nothing  about  the  connexion  between  mind  and 
body  except  that  the  brain  is  the  specially  appropriate  organ 
or  instrument  for  the  purpose;  and  accordingly  we  are  not  en- 
titled to  any  a  priori  views.  We  know  that  each  organism 
is  usually  appropriated  by,  and  belongs  to,  the  special 
psychical  character  or  unit  which  commonly  employs  it;  just 
as  a  violin  belongs  to  a  special  operator,  who  might  resent 
any  other  person,  especially  a  novice,  attempting  to  play 
upon  it.  The  desk  of  an  author  is  his  private  property, 
from  which  a  certain  class  of  literature  usually  emanates; 
and  he  might  not  like  to  see  it  used  for  works  of  fiction,  or 
scandalous  gossip,  or  the  advocacy  of  vaccination,  or  vege- 
tarianism, or  Christian  Science,  or  tariff  reform.  But  that 
proves  nothing  as  to  the  impossibility  of  so  utilising  it.  The 
power  may  exist,  but  may  be  in  abeyance,  or  be  recognised  as 
inappropriate  and  inconvenient,  or  even  as  dangerous  and 
illegal. 

But  if  the  power  exist,  it  is  a  fact  worth  knowing.  If  it 
is  possible  for  the  normal  operator  to  go  out  for  a  walk 
and  leave  his  writing  mechanism  open  to  the  casual  tramp 
or  the  enterprising  visitor,  it  is  a  definite  fact  that  we  may 
as  well  know  about. 

Now  as  to  the  power  of  dislocation  or  suspension  of  the 
usual  connexion  between  mind  and  body,  it  is  supposed  more 
or  less  to  occur  during  sleep;  it  is  certainly  supposed  to  occur 
during  trance;  and,  in  case  of  what  is  called  travelling  clair- 
voyance, it  would  appear  to  be  in  some  sort  a  demonstrable 
fact. 

Anyhow,  it  is  orthodox  —  not  scientifically  orthodox,  but 
religiously  orthodox  —  to  maintain  that  the  connexion  be- 
tween ourselves  and  our  organism  is  only  temporary,  and 
that  at  what  we  call  "  death  "  we  shall  give  up  this  material 
mode  of  manifestation  for  ever:  so  that  the  body  resolves 


iy8  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

itself  into  its  original  elements.  And  it  is  usually  supposed 
that,  after  having  lost  control  of  our  appropriate  and  nor- 
mally possessed  bodily  organs,  even  though  we  still  persist  as 
psychical  entities,  we  have,  in  our  new  state,  no  means  of 
operating  upon  the  physical  world.  No  more  can  we  move 
pieces  of  matter;  no  more  can  we  stimulate  ideas  in  the 
minds  of  our  friends  when  we  are  "  dead."  No,  not  unless 
one  of  three  things  happens. 

First,  the  telepathic  power  may  continue;  and  we  may 
operate  directly  on  their  conscious  or  unconscious  minds, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  them  to  produce  some  physical 
effect  or  record,  by  normal  means,  through  their  own  accus- 
tomed mechanism. 

Second,  a  materialising  power  may  continue,  analogous 
to  that  which  enabled  us,  when  here  on  the  planet,  to  assimi- 
late all  sorts  of  material,  to  digest  it  and  arrange  it  into 
the  organism  that  served  us  as  a  body.  It  is  extraordinarily 
difficult  to  conceive  of  such  a  power,  and  impossible  to  sup- 
pose that  it  can  be  a  direct  power  of  a  psychical  agency  un- 
aided by  the  reproductive  activity  of  any  other  unit  already 
incarnate;  because  such  a  power  would  imply  a  control  of 
mind  over  matter  which  by  hypothesis  we  conceive  does  not 
in  fact  exist,  save  through  the  mechanism  of  a  brain.  Such 
action  we  might  well  consider  to  be  miracle. 

Still  something  of  the  kind  has  been  asserted  to  occur; 
though  always,  I  believe,  in  the  presence  of  some  peculiarly 
disposed  organism  or  medium. 

Thirdly,  a  telergic  power,  analogous  to  that  which  we 
have  already  supposed  occasionly  active,  may  exist;  enabling 
the  psychical  unit  to  detect  and  make  use  of  some  fully  de- 
veloped physiological  mechanism,  not  belonging  to  it  —  a 
fully  developed  brain,  shall  we  say,  with  nerves  and  muscles 
complete ; —  so  that,  during  temporary  vacation  by  the  usual 


AUTOMATIC  WRITING  179 

possessor,  these  may  be  utilised  for  a  time,  and  may  achievex 
in  an  unpractised  and  more  or  less  blundering  fashion,  some 
desired  influence  upon  the  physrcal  world.  In  such  a  case 
the  operator  may  be  understood  as  contriving  to  utter  in 
speech  or  writing  something  like  the  message  which  he  in- 
tends to  convey  to  his  otherwise  occupied  and  inaccessible 
but  still  beloved  friends. 

Affection  need  not  be  the  only  motive,  however,  which 
causes  a  given  operator  to  take  all  the  trouble,  and  go 
through  the  process  of  using  other  people's  writing  materials, 
-  at  the  risk  of  rousing  superstition  and  fright  or  be- 
ing ejected  by  medical  treatment.  Occasionally  it  may  be 
a  scientific  interest  surviving  from  the  time  in  this  life  when 
he  was  a  keen  and  active  member  of  the  S.  P.  R. ;  so  that  he 
desires  above  all  things  to  convey  to  his  friends,  engaged 
on  the  same  quest,  some  assurance,  not  only  of  his  continued 
individual  existence, —  in  which,  on  religious  grounds,  they 
may  imagine  that  they  already  believe, —  but  of  his  reten- 
tion of  a  power  to  communicate  indirectly  and  occasionally 
with  them,  and  to  produce  movements  even  in  the  material 
world, —  by  kind  permission  of  an  organism,  or  part  of  an 
organism,  the  temporary  use  or  possession  of  which  has  been 
allowed  him  for  that  purpose. 

IDENTITY 

The  question  of  identity  is  of  course  a  fundamental  one. 
The  control  must  prove  his  identity  mainly  by  reproducing 
facts  which  belong  to  his  memory  and  not  to  that  of  the 
automatist.  And  notice  that  proof  of  identity  will  usually 
depend  on  the  memory  of  trifles.  The  objection,  frequently 
raised,  that  communications  too  often  relate  to  trivial  sub- 
jects, shows  a  lack  of  intelligence,  or  at  least  of  due  thought, 


i8o  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

on  the  part  of  the  critic.  The  object  is  to  get,  not  some- 
thing dignified,  but  something  evidential :  and  what  evidence 
of  persistent  memory  can  be  better  than  the  recollection  of 
trifling  incidents  which  for  some  personal  reason  happen  to 
have  made  a  permanent  impression?  Do  we  not  ourselves 
remember  domestic  trifles  more  vividly  than  things  which 
to  the  outside  world  seem  important?  Wars  and  corona- 
tions are  affairs  read  of  in  newspapers  —  they  are  usually 
too  far  public  to  be  of  use  as  evidence  of  persistent  identity; 
but  a  broken  toy,  or  a  family  joke,  or  a  schoolboy  adventure, 
has  a  more  personal  flavour,  and  is  of  a  kind  more  likely  to 
be  remembered  in  old  age,  or  after  a  rending  shock. 

In  fiction  this  is  illustrated  continually.  Take  the  case 
of  identification  of  the  dumb  and  broken  savage,  apparently 
an  Afghan  prowler,  in  The  Man  Who  Was.  What  was  it 
that  opened  the  eyes  of  the  regiment,  to  which  he  had 
crawled  back  from  Siberia,  to  the  fact  that  twenty  years 
ago  he  was  one  of  themselves?  Knowledge  of  a  trick-catch 
in  a  regimental  flower-vase,  the  former  position  of  a  trophy 
on  the  wall,  and  the  smashing  of  a  wineglass  after  a  loyal 
toast.  That  is  true  to  life :  it  is  probably  true  to  death  also. 

That  is  the  kind  of  evidence  which  we  ought  to  expect, 
and  that  is  the  kind  of  evidence  which  not  infrequently  we 
get.  We  have  not  been  able  to  hold  it  sufficient,  however. 
The  regiment  in  Kipling's  tale  never  thought  of  unconscious 
telepathy  from  themselves,  as  spoiling  the  testimony  to  be 
drawn  from  the  uncouth  savage's  apparent  reminiscence: 
such  an  explanation  would  have  been  rightly  felt  to  have 
been  too  forced  and  improbable,  and  exaggeratedly  sceptical. 
But  when  it  comes  to  proof  of  surviving  existence  and  of 
memory  beyond  the  tomb,  we  are  bound  to  proceed  even  to 
this  length,  and  to  discount  the  witness  of  anything  that  is 


AUTOMATIC  WRITING  181 

in  our  minds;  or,  as  some  think,  in  the  mind  of  any  living 
person. 

Thus  is  the  difficulty  of  incontrovertible  proof  of  identity 
enormously  increased.  Even  when  the  evidence  enables  a 
hidden  thing  to  be  discovered  of  which  no  one  living  pos- 
sessed the  secret  —  as  in  Swedenborg's  discovery  of  the  dead 
burgomaster's  private  papers  previously  quoted,  deferred 
telepathy  is  sometimes  adduced  as  preferable  to  what  must 
then  seem  to  most,  as  it  did  to  Swedenborg,  if  not  to  Kant, 
the  only  rational  explanation. 


CHAPTER   XII 

PERSONAL  IDENTITY 

IN  illustration  of  the  remarks  made  at  end  of  last  chapter, 
the  following  is  a  favourable  instance  of  the  mode  in 
which  evidence  is  given  to  prove  identity  in  cases  of 
automatic  writing:  it  was  described  by  Mr.  Stainton  Moses 
to  Edmund  Gurney  and  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  while  it  was  still 
fresh,  on  his  first  meeting  with  them,  May  9th,   1874.     It 
is  to  be  understood  that  he  was  an  automatic  writer,  and 
one  of  those  who  could  as  it  were  "  converse  "  with  the 
script  as  it  emanated  from  his  own  unconscious  hand.     He 
was  accustomed  to  write  a  conscious  question  and  then  to 
receive    an   unconscious    or   subliminal    answer  —  his    hand 
being  apparently  guided  by  an  intelligence  not  his  own. 
The  record  runs  thus : — 

On  the  evening  of  April  8th,  1874,  while  at  Bedford  with  his  father 
and  mother,  Mr.  Stainton  Moses,  who  had  been  receiving 
messages  about  ancient  religions  during  the  day,  began  to 

ask  a  question,   "  I  should   like ,"  when   a  meaningless 

drawing  was  made  in  place  of  intended  words. 

Q.  What  is  all  that?     And  why  was  I  stopped? 

A.  "  A  spirit  wished  to  communicate,  and  we  are  commanded  to 
permit  her.  She  is  not  able  to  write  with  ease,  but  will 
communicate  through  us.  Her  name  is  Fanny  Westoby. 
Do  you  know  the  name?  " 

Q.  I  do  not  remember. 

A.  "  Your  mother  knows  her  well.  She  is  a  cousin  of  hers.  She 
passed  from  your  earth  May  I5th  last." 

182 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY  183 

Q.  Was  she  married? 

A.  "  Yes,   her  maiden  name  was  Kirkham." 

Q.  Fanny  Kirkham.  Yes,  I  have  a  dim  remembrance.  She  used 
to  live  at  Markby. 

A.  "  She  says  that  she  was  born  in  Alford,  in  the  house  now  occu- 
pied by  Sam  Stevenson.  She  then  lived  at  Markby,  and, 
having  married,  at  Belchford.  She  passed  away  at  Horn- 
castle,  at  63  years  of  age.  You  do  not  remember  her,  when, 
in  the  year  1845,  you  went  to  see  her  at  Markby.  Her 
mother,  Elizabeth  Kirkham,  was  then  just  released  from  a 
lingering  illness,  and  your  mother  had  gone  to  condole  with 
her  cousin.  You  were  taken  round  the  farm,  and  rode  on  a 
goat  (she  is  anxious  on  this  point),  and  she  threw  you  in 
sport  into  a  heap  of  wheat  which  was  being  threshed.  The 
result  was  that  you  were  severely  bitten  by  the  harvest  bug. 
She  is  very  anxious  that  you  should  recall  this  to  your  mother." 

Q.  1  will,  but  is  it  wise? 

A.  "  You  will  not  be  able  to  induce  her  to  search  into  this  matter, 
but  you  may  satisfy  yourself  that  what  is  said  is  true." 

Q,  Has  she  any  message? 

A.  "  She  says,  '  I  lost  much  of  my  opportunity  for  progress  through 
the  gratification  of  bodily  appetite,  which  cast  me  back.  My 
course  of  progress  is  yet  to  come.  I  find  my  present  life 
not  very  different  from  yours.  I  am  nearly  the  same.  I 
wish  I  could  influence  Mary,  but  I  can't  get  near  her.'  " 

Q.  Can  she  assure  me  that  she  is  F.  W.  ? 

A.  "  She  can  give  you  no  further  evidence.  Stay,  ask  your  father 
about  Donnington  and  the  trap-door." 

Q.  I  have  not  the  least  idea  what  she  means.  All  the  better.  I 
will  ask.  Any  more?  Is  she  happy? 

A.  "  She  is  as  happy  as  may  be  in  her  present  state." 

Q.  How  did  she  find  me  out? 

A.  "  She  came  by  chance,  hovering  near  her  friend  [i.e.  Mrs.  Moses] 
and  discovered  that  she  could  communicate.  She  will  return 
now." 

Q.  Can  I  help  her? 


1 84  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

A.  "  Yes,  pray.  She  and  all  of  us  are  helped  when  you  devote 
your  talents  willingly  to  aid  us." 

Q.  What  do  you  mean? 

A*  "  In  advocating  and  advancing  our  mission  with  care  and  judg- 
ment. Then  we  are  permeated  with  joy.  May  the  Supreme 
bless  you.  t  RECTOR." 

On  this  Mr.  Stainton  Moses  comments  thus : —  I  have 
inquired  of  my  mother  and  find  the  particulars  given  are 
exactly  true.  She  wonders  how  I  remember  things  that  oc- 
curred when  I  was  only  5  years  old !  I  have  not  ventured 
to  say  how  I  got  the  information,  believing  that  it  would  be 
unwise  and  useless.  My  father  I  can  get  nothing  out  of 
about  the  trap-door.  He  either  does  not  remember,  or  will 
not  say. 

April  9th,  1874.  My  father  has  remembered  this  inci- 
dent. A  trap-door  led  on  to  the  roof  in  the  house  he  occu- 
pied at  Donnington.  The  house  was  double  roofed  and 
a  good  view  could  be  had  from  it.  F.  K.  on  a  visit  wanted 
to  go  there,  and  got  fixed  halfway,  amid  great  laughter. 

[We  have  verified  Mrs.  Westoby's  death  in  the  Register 
of  Deaths.—  F.  W.  H.  M.] 

It  is  indeed  seldom  that  particulars  of  date,  place  and 
circumstance  are  given  so  glibly  and  fully  as  this.  Com- 
municators themselves  usually  appear  confused  about  these 
more  precise  details;  but  an  ostensible  reporter,  having  ob- 
tained the  information  from  them  at  leisure,  can  sometimes 
quote  it  through  an  automatist  with  fair  accuracy,  as  in  the 
case  above. 

Another  striking  case  is  that  of  the  lady  known  here  as 
"Blanche  Abercromby";  though  in  this  case  the  conceal- 
ment of  real  name  removes  some  of  the  interest  that  would 
otherwise  be  felt  in  it.  When  the  communication  arrived 
through  Mr.  Stainton  Moses's  hand  he  was  not  aware  of 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY  185 

her  death  —  nor  did  he  know  her  at  all  well ;  in  fact  he  had 
only  met  her  and  her  husband  once  at  some  seance  and  had 
been  annoyed  at  the  strongly  expressed  disbelief  of  her  hus- 
band in  the  possibility  of  such  things. 

The  communicating  purports  to  be  a  hasty  amende,  at  the 
earliest,  posthumous,  opportunity.  Mr.  Myers  examined 
this  case  carefully,  being  much  interested  in  some  features  of 
it.  The  pages  of  the  notebook  in  which  the  writing  occurred 
had  been  gummed  down  and  marked  "  private,"  nor  had 
they  apparently  been  mentioned  to  any  one  at  the  time. 
But  years  later,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Stainton  Moses,  this 
and  other  books  came  into  Mr.  Myers's  hands,. and  with  the 
consent  of  the  executors  he  opened  this  portion. 

He  was  surprised  to  find  a  written  communication  entirely 
characteristic  of  a  lady  known  to  him,  here  called  Blanche 
Abercromby,  who  had  died  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  about 
twenty-five  years  ago  at  a  country  house  about  two  hundred 
miles  from  London.  He  found  that  it  was  on  the  very  same 
evening  near  midnight  that  the  supernormal  intimation  of 
the  death  had  reached  Mr.  Stainton  Moses  at  his  secluded 
lodgings  in  the  north  of  London:  and  that  afterwards  the 
lady  had  ostensibly  written  a  few  lines  herself.  The  evi- 
dence of  the  handwriting,  which  was  in  one  point  peculiar, 
is  specifically  testified  to,  not  only  by  Mr.  Myers,  but  by  a 
member  of  the  family,  and  by  an  expert  (see  Human  Per- 
sonality, vol.  ii.,  p.  231,  or  Proc.,  S.  P.  R.,  xi.,  96  et  seq.). 
It  is  unlikely  that  Mr.  Moses  had  ever  seen  her  writing. 

The  chances  necessary  to  secure  a  verification  of  this  case 
were  more  complex  that  can  here  be  fully  explained.  This 
lady,  who  was  quite  alien  to  these  researches,  had  been  dead 
about  twenty  years  when  her  posthumous  letter  was  discov- 
ered in  Mr.  Moses's  private  notebook  by  one  of  the  very  few 
surviving  persons  who  had  both  known  her  well  enough  to 


1 86  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

recognise  the  characteristic  quality  of  the  message,  and  were 
also  sufficiently  interested  in  spirit  identity  to  get  the  hand- 
writings compared  and  the  case  recorded. 

The  entries  in  the  MS  book  will  now  be  quoted.  The 
communications  began  with  some  obscure  drawings,  appar- 
ently representing  the  flight  of  a  bird;  then  in  answer  to  a 
question  as  to  the  meaning  it  went  on: — 

A.  "  It  is  a  spirit  who  has  but  just  quitted  the  body.  Blanche  Aber- 
cromby  in  the  flesh.  I  have  brought  her.  No  more.  M." 

Q.  Do  you  mean  ? 

No  reply.     [Sunday  night  about  midnight.     The  information  is 

unknown  to  me.] 
(On  Monday  morning  the  script  continues)  : — 

Q.  I  wish  for  information  about  last  night.  Is  that  true?  Was  it 
Mentor? 

A.  "  Yes,  good  friend,  it  was  Mentor,  who  took  pity  on  a  spirit  that 
was  desirous  to  reverse  former  errors.  She  desires  us  to  say 
so.  She  was  ever  an  inquiring  spirit,  and  was  called  suddenly 
from  your  earth.  She  will  rest  anon.  One  more  proof  has 
been  now  given  of  continuity  of  existence.  Be  thankful  and 
meditate  with  prayer.  Seek  not  more  now,  but  cease.  We  do 
not  wish  you  to  ask  any  questions  now. 

f  I:  S:D.X  RECTOR." 

A  week  later  some  matter  of  what  must  be  called  non- 
evidential  quality  appears;  but  in  this  instance  I  propose  to 
quote  it  because  this  is  an  important  case. 

Q.  Can  you  write  for  me  now? 

A.  "  Yes,  the  chief  is  here." 

Q.  How  was  it  that  spirit  [Blanche  Abercromby's]  came  to  me? 

A.  "  The  mind  was  directed  to  the  subject,  and  being  active,  it  pro- 
jected itself  to  you.  Moreover,  we  were  glad  to  be  able  to 
afford  you  another  proof  of  our  desire  to  do  what  is  in  our 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY  187 

power  to  bring  home  to  you  evidence  of  the  truth  of  what  we 
say." 

Q.  Is  it  correct  to  say  that  the  direction  of  thought  causes  the  spirit 
to  be  present? 

A.  "  In  some  cases  it  is  so.  Great  activity  of  spirit,  coupled  with 
anxiety  to  discover  truth  and  to  seek  into  the  hidden  causes 
of  things,  continue  to  make  it  possible  for  a  spirit  to  manifest. 
Moreover,  direction  of  thought  gives  what  you  would  call 
direction  or  locality  to  the  thought.  By  that  we  mean  that 
the  instinctive  tendency  of  the  desire  or  thought  causes  a  pos- 
sibility of  objective  manifestation.  Then  by  the  help  of  those 
who,  like  ourselves,  are  skilled  in  managing  the  elements,  mani- 
festation becomes  possible.  This  would  not  have  been  possi- 
ble in  this  case,  only  that  we  took  advantage  of  what  would 
have  passed  unnoticed  in  order  to  work  out  another  proof  of 
the  reality  of  our  mission.  It  is  necessary  that  there  should 
be  a  combination  of  circumstances  before  such  a  manifestation 
can  be  possible.  And  that  combination  is  rare.  Hence  the 
infrequency  of  such  events,  and  the  difficulty  we  have  in  ar- 
ranging them :  especially  when  anxiety  enters  into  the  matter, 
as  in  the  case  of  a  friend  whose  presence  is  earnestly  desired. 
It  might  well  be  that  so  ready  a  proof  as  this  might  not 
occur  again." 

Q.  Then  a  combination  of  favourable  circumstances  aided  you.  Will 
the  spirit  rest,  or  does  it  not  require  it? 

A.  "  We  do  not  know  the  destiny  of  that  spirit.  It  will  pass  out 
of  our  control.  Circumstances  enabled  us  to  use  its  presence: 
but  that  presence  will  not  be  maintained." 

Q.  If  direction  of  thought  causes  motion,  I  should  have  thought  it 
would  be  so  with  our  friends  and  that  they  would  therefore 
be  more  likely  to  come. 

A.  "  It  is  not  that  alone.  Nor  is  it  so  with  all.  All  cannot  come 
to  earth.  And  not  in  all  cases  does  volition  or  thought  cause 
union  of  souls.  Many  other  adjuncts  are  necessary  before 
such  can  be.  Material  obstacles  may  prevent,  and  the  guard- 
ians may  oppose.  We  are  not  able  to  pursue  the  subject  now, 


seeing  that  we  write  with  difficulty.     At  another  time  we  may 
resume.     Cease  for  the  present  and  do  not  seek  further. 

1 1 :  S :  D.  RECTOR." 

A  few  days  later,  Mr.  Moses  wrote: — 

Q.  The  spirit  B.  A.  began  by  drawing.     Was  it  herself? 

A.  With  assistance.     She  could  not  write.     One  day  if  she  is  able 

to    return    again,    she   will    be   more   able    to   express    her 

thoughts.    .    .    . 

(A  few  days  later.) 

A.  A  spirit  who  has  before  communicated  will  write  for  you  herself, 
She  will  then  leave  you,  having  given  the  evidence  that  is 
required. 

"  I  should  much  like  to  speak  more  with  you,  but  it  is  not 
permitted.  You  have  sacred  truth.  I  know  but  little  yet.  I 
have  much,  much  to  learn. —  BLANCHE  ABERCROMBY. 

"  It  is  like  my  writing  as  evidence  to  you." 

The  statement  that  the  writing  of  this  particular  message 
is  like  that  of  the  lady's  was  long  afterwards  verified  with 
some  care  and  trouble  by  Mr.  Myers,  and  is  correct.  The 
amende,  and  the  sentence,  "  I  have  much,  much  to  learn," 
arc  characteristic, 


Attempts  have  been  made,  and  are  still  made  from  time 
to  time,  to  explain  all  this  sort  of  thing  —  some  of  it  by  the 
recrudescence  of  lapsed  memory,  some  of  it  by  telepathy,  and 
some  of  it  by  clairvoyance.  If  such  attempts  are  regarded 
as  successful  how  can  it  be  possible,  by  any  means,  to  get 
over  the  difficulty  and  to  establish  the  identity  of  any  com- 
municator? I  reply 

(a)   by  gradually  accumulated  internal  evidence,  based 
on  pertinacious  and  careful  record; 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY  189 

(b)  by  cross  correspondences,  or  the  reception  of  un- 

intelligible parts  of  one  consistent  and  coherent 
message,  through  different  mediums; 

(c)  by  information  or  criteria  specially  characteristic 

of  the  supposed  communicating  intelligence;  and, 
if  possible,  in  some  sense  new  to  the  world. 

Cross-correspondence  —  that  is,  the  reception  of  part  of 
a  message  through  one  medium  and  part  through  another 
—  is  good  evidence  of  one  intelligence  dominating  both 
automatists;  especially  if  the  parts  separately  are  unintel- 
ligible, so  that  they  cannot  be  rationally  signalled  either  by 
normal  or  supernormal  means.  And  if  the  message  is  char- 
acteristic of  some  one  particular  deceased  person,  and  is  re- 
ceived through  people  to  whom  he  was  not  intimately  known, 
then  it  is  fair  proof' of  the  continued  intellectual  activity  of 
that  personality.  If  further  we  get  from  him  a  piece  of 
literary  criticism  which  is  eminently  in  his  vein  and  has  not 
occurred  to  ordinary  people  —  not  to  either  of  the  mediums, 
and  not  even  to  the  literary  world,  but  which  on  considera- 
tion is  appreciated  as  sound  as  well  as  characteristic  criticism, 
showing  a  familiar  and  wide  knowledge  of  the  poetry  of 
many  ages,  and  unifying  apparently  disconnected  passages 
in  some  definite  way, —  then  I  say  the  proof,  already  strik- 
ing, would  tend  to  become  crucial. 

These,  then,  are  the  kinds  of  proof  at  which  the  Society  is 
aiming.  These  are  the  kinds  of  proof  which  are  in  process 
of  being  attained. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 

THE  most  famous  of  recent  thorough  automatists,  or 
trance  speaking  and  trance  writing  mediums,  is  un- 
doubtedly Mrs.  Piper  of  Boston,  U.  S.  A.  With 
her  an  enormous  amount  of  work  has  been  done;  and  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society,  both  in  the  past  and  in  future  years, 
will  bear  witness  to  the  richness  and  fertility  of  this  case,  as 
well  as  to  the  industry  with  which  it  has  been  pursued  and  its 
various  stages  studied.  To  give  anything  like  a  full  ac- 
count of  even  my  own  work  in  this  direction  —  the  merest 
fraction  of  the  whole  —  would  need  much  more  space  than 
it  would  be  wise  to  expend  on  it  in  this  book,  so  I  shall  select 
only  such  small  portions  as  will  give  some  idea  of  what  hap- 
pens, and  refer  students  who  wish  to  pursue  the  matter 
further  to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search. 

As  a  prelude  to  the  Report  on  the  1890  English  series  of 
sittings,  which  were  the  first  that  the  Society  published,  Mr. 
Myers  at  that  time  wrote  an  Introduction  from  which  I  will 
make  a  few  extracts,  because  they  illustrate  the  kind  of  view 
which  that  experienced  investigator  at  that  time  took  of 
these,  in  some  respects,  novel  phenomena. 

MR.  F.  W.  H.  MYERS'S  EARLY  TESTIMONY 

On  certain  external  or  preliminary  points,  all  who  have 
had  adequate  opportunity  of  judgment,  are  decisively 

190 


MRS.  PIPER  191 

agreed;  but  on  the  more  delicate  and  interesting  question 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  trance-utterances  we  cannot  unite  in 
any  absolute  view.  We  agree  only  in  maintaining  that  the 
utterances  show  that  knowledge  has  been  acquired  by  some 
intelligence  in  some  supernormal  fashion; — and  in  urging 
on  experimental  psychologists  the  duty  of  watching  for 
similar  cases,  and  of  analysing  the  results  in  some  such  way 
as  we  have  endeavoured  to  do. 

The  study  of  trance-utterances,  indeed,  is  at  first  sight 
distasteful;  since  real  and  pretended  trance-utterances  have 
notoriously  been  the  vehicle  of  much  conscious  and  uncon- 
scious fraud.  But  we  urge  that,  just  as  the  physical  and 
psychical  phenomena  of  hysteria  —  long  neglected  as  a  mere 
jungle  of  trickeries  —  are  now  analysed  with  adequate  se- 
curity against  deception,  and  with  most  fruitful  results,  so 
also  these  utterances  are  now  capable  of  being  rationally 
studied, —  thanks  to  the  advance  in  the  comprehension  of 
automatic  phenomena  which  French  and  English  effort  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  has  achieved. 

These  utterances,  although  they  often  occur  in  hysterical 
subjects,  seem  to  have  no  necessary  connection  with  hysteria. 
Nor  again  have  we  any  real  ground  for  calling  them  morbid 
per  se,  although  their  excessive  repetition  may  lead  to  morbid 
states.  All  that  we  can  safely  say  is  that  they  are  a  form 
of  automatism;  that  they  constitute  one  of  many  classes  of 
phenomena  which  occur  in  sane  subjects  without  entering  the 
normal  waking  consciousness  or  forming  part  of  the  habitual 
chain  of  memory. 

In  previous  discussions  automatism  has  been  divided  into 
active  and  passive  types;  active  automatism  consisting  of 
such  phenomena  as  automatic  writing  and  trance-utterance  — 
passive,  of  hallucinations  of  sight,  hearing,  &c.  "  The 
automatism  may  be  called  active  if  it  finds  a  motor  channel, 
passive  if  it  find  a  sensory  channel,  but  the  impulse  whence 
it  originates  may  be  much  the  same  in  the  one  case  as  in  the 
other." 

The  unsubstantial  character  of  trance-utterances  in  general 
is  fully  admitted.  '  Trance-addresses  are  eminently  barren 
of  fact;  they  generally  show  little  more  than  a  mere  power 


192  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

of  improvisation,  which  may  either  be  fraudulently  practised, 
or  may  be  a  characteristic  faculty  of  the  unconscious  self." 

When,  therefore,  we  were  informed  by  trusted  witnesses, 
—  by  Professor  William  James,  who  is  a  physician  as  well 
as  a  psychologist,  and  by  Mr.  Hodgson,  whose  acumen  in 
the  detection  of  imposture  has  been  proved  in  more  fields 
than  one, — that  the  utterances  of  Mrs.  Piper's  trance  did 
In  their  view  unquestionably  contain  facts  of  which  Mrs. 
Piper  in  her  waking  state  was  wholly  ignorant,  some  inquiry 
into  the  character  of  this  trance  seemed  to  fall  in  the  direct 
line  of  our  work. 

However  the  specific  trance-utterances  may  be  interpreted, 
the  case  as  a  whole  is  a  rare  and  remarkable  one.  It  is  an 
instance  of  automatism  of  that  extreme  kind  where  the  up- 
heaval of  sub-conscious  strata  is  not  merely  local,  but  affects, 
so  to  say,  the  whole  psychical  area ;  —  where  a  secondary 
consciousness  not  only  crops  up  here  and  there  through 
the  primary,  but  for  a  time  displaces  it;  —  where,  in  short, 
the  whole  personality  appears  to  suffer  intermittent  change. 

These  trances  cannot  always  be  induced  at  pleasure.  A 
state  of  quiet  expectancy  or  "  self-suggestion  "  will  usually 
bring  one  on;  but  sometimes  the  attempt  altogether  fails. 
We  never  attempted  to  induce  the  trance  of  hypnotism. 
We  understand,  indeed,  that  Mrs.  Piper  has  never  been 
deeply  hypnotised,  although  Professor  Richet  tried  on  her 
some  experiments  of  suggestion  in  the  waking  state,  and 
found  her  somewhat  "  suggestable."  On  the  other  hand, 
the  trance  has  occasionally  appeared  when  it  was  not  desired. 
The  first  time  that  it  occurred  (as  Mrs.  Piper  informs  us) 
it  came  as  an  unwelcome  surprise.  An  instance  of  this  kind 
occurred  at  Cambridge.  Before  going  to  bed  she  had,  at 
my  request,  says  Mr.  Myers,  and  for  the  first  time  in  her 
life,  been  looking  into  a  crystal,  with  the  desire  to  see 
therein  some  hallucinatory  figure  which  might  throw  light 
on  the  nature  of  the  mysterious  secondary  personality.  She 
saw  nothing;  but  next  morning  she  looked  exhausted,  and 
said  that  she  thought  that  she  had  been  entranced  during 
the  night.  The  next  time  that  she  went  into  a  trance 
Phinuit  [which  is  the  name  she  used  to  be  known  by  when 


MRS.  PIPER  193 

in  the  trance]  said  he  had  come  and  called,  and  no  one  had 
answered  him.  It  appeared  as  though  the  concentration  of 
thought  upon  the  crystal  had  acted  as  a  kind  of  self-sug- 
gestion, and  had  induced  the  secondary  state,  when  not  de- 
sired. 

The  trance  when  induced  generally  lasted  about  an  hour. 
On  one  occasion  in  my  house,  and  I  believe  once  at  least  in 
America,  it  only  lasted  for  about  a  minute.  Phinuit  only 
had  time  to  say  that  he  could  not  remain,  and  then  the 
habitual  moaning  began,  and  Mrs.  Piper  came  to  herself. 

There  was  often  a  marked  difference  between  the  first 
few  minutes  of  a  trance  and  the  remaining  time.  On  such 
occasions  almost  all  that  was  of  value  would  be  told  in  the 
first  few  minutes;  and  the  remaining  talk  would  consist  of 
vague  generalities  or  mere  repetitions  of  what  had  already 
been  given.  Phinuit,  as  will  be  seen,  always  professed  him- 
self to  be  a  spirit  communicating  with  spirits;  and  he  used 
to  say  that  he  remembered  their  messages  for  a  few  minutes 
after  "  entering  into  the  medium,"  and  then  became  con- 
fused. He  was  not,  however,  apparently  able  to  depart 
when  his  budget  of  facts  was  empty.  There  seemed  to  be 
some  irresponsible  letting-off  of  energy  which  must  continue 
until  the  original  impulse  was  lost  in  incoherence. 

Mrs.  Piper's  case  has  been  more  or  less  continuously  ob- 
served by  Professor  James  and  others  almost  from  the  date 
of  the  first  sudden  inception  of  the  trance,  some  twenty-five 
years  ago.  Dr.  Hodgson  was  in  the  habit  of  bringing  ac- 
quaintances of  his  own  to  Mrs.  Piper,  without  giving  their 
names;  and  many  of  these  have  heard  from  the  trance-ut- 
terance facts  about  their  dead  relations,  &c.,  which  they  feel 
sure  that  Mrs.  Piper  could  not  have  known.  Dr.  Hodgson 
also  had  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Piper  watched  or  "  shadowed  "  by 
private  detectives  for  some  weeks,  with  the  view  of  discover- 
ing whether  Mr.  Piper  (at  that  time  alive  and  employed  in 
a  large  store  in  Boston,  U.  S.  A.)  went  about  inquiring  into 
the  affairs  of  possible  "  sitters,"  or  whether  Mrs.  Piper  re- 


194  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

ceived  letters  from  friends  or  agents  conveying  information. 
This  inquiry  was  pushed  pretty  closely,  but  absolutely  noth- 
ing was  discovered  which  could  throw  suspicion  on  Mrs. 
Piper, —  who  is  now  aware  of  the  procedure,  but  has  the 
good  sense  to  recognise  the  legitimacy  —  I  may  say  scientific 
necessity  —  of  this  kind  of  probation. 

It  was  thus  shown  that  Mrs.  Piper  made  no  discoverable 
attempt  to  acquire  knowledge  even  about  persons  whose  com- 
ing she  had  reason  to  expect.  Still  less  could  she  have  been 
aware  of  the  private  concerns  of  persons  brought  anonym- 
ously to  her  house  at  Dr.  Hodgson's  choice. 

We  took  great  pains,  continues  Mr.  Myers,  to  avoid  giv- 
ing information  in  talk;  and  a  more  complete  security  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  we  were  ourselves  ignorant  of 
many  of  the  facts  given  as  to  our  friends'  relations,  &c.  In 
the  case  of  Mrs.  Verrall,  for  instance,  no  one  in  Cambridge 
except  Mrs.  Verrall  herself  could  have  supplied  the  bulk  of 
the  information  given;  and  some  of  the  facts  given  Mrs. 
Verrall  herself  did  not  know.  As  regards  my  own  affairs, 
says  Mr.  Myers,  I  have  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  cite 
in  extenso  such  statements  as  might  possibly  have  been  got 
up  beforehand;  since  Mrs.  Piper  of  course  knew  that  I 
should  be  one  of  her  sitters.  Such  facts  as  that  I  once  had 
an  aunt,  "  Cordelia  Marshall,  more  commonly  called  Cor- 
rie,"  might  have  been  learnt, —  though  I  do  not  think  that 
they  were  learnt, —  from  printed  or  other  sources.  But  I 
do  not  think  that  any  larger  proportion  of  such  accessible 
facts  was  given  to  me  than  to  an  average  sitter,  previously 
unknown;  nor  were  there  any  of  those  subtler  points  which 
could  so  easily  have  been  made  by  dint  of  scrutiny  of  my 
books  or  papers.  On  the  other  hand,  in  my  case,  as  in  the 
case  of  several  other  sitters,  there  were  messages  purporting 
to  come  from  a  friend  who  has  been  dead  many  years,  and 
mentioning  circumstances  which  I  believe  that  it  would  have 
been  quite  impossible  for  Mrs.  Piper  to  have  discovered. 

I  am  also  acquainted  with  some  of  the  facts  given  to 


MRS.  PIPER  195 

other  sitters,  and  suppressed  as  too  intimate,  or  as  involving 
secrets  not  the  property  of  the  sitter  alone.  I  may  say  that 
so  far  as  my  own  personal  conviction  goes,  the  utterance  of 
one  or  two  of  these  facts  is  even  more  conclusive  of  super- 
normal knowledge  than  the  correct  statement  of  dozens  of 
names  of  relations,  &c.,  which  the  sitter  had  no  personal 
motive  for  concealing. 

On  the  whole,  I  believe  that  all  observers,  both  in  America 
and  in  England,  who  have  seen  enough  of  Mrs.  Piper  in 
both  states  to  be  able  to  form  a  judgment,  will  agree  in 
affirming  ( i )  that  many  of  the  facts  given  could  not  have 
been  learnt  even  by  a  skilled  detective;  (2)  that  to  learn 
others  of  them,  although  possible,  would  have  needed  an 
expenditure  of  money  as  well  as  of  time  which  it  seems 
impossible  to  suppose  that  Mrs.  Piper  could  have  met;  and 
(3)  that  her  conduct  has  never  given  any  ground  whatever 
for  supposing  her  capable  of  fraud  or  trickery.  Few  per- 
sons have  been  so  long  and  so  carefully  observed;  and  she 
has  left  on  all  observers  the  impression  of  thorough  up- 
rightness, candour,  and  honesty. 

MRS.  PIPER  AND  THE  PRESS 

It  may  be  within  the  knowledge  of  some  readers  that  in 
the  year  1901  absurdly  misleading  articles  appeared  in  the 
American  Press,  and  were  copied  in  some  of  the  English 
papers,  to  the  effect  that  Mrs.  Piper  had  "  confessed  "  and 
exploded  her  whole  fabric. 

The  articles  belong  to  the  discreditable  side  of  transat- 
lantic newspaper  enterprise,  and  it  is  discouraging  that  they 
should  not  have  been  more  readily  assessed  at  their  true 
worth.  I  find  that  the  misconception  thus  started  is  occasion- 
ally still  found  surviving,  so  I  quote  the  critical  and  judicial 
utterance  of  the  Editor  of  the  Journal  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  on  the  subject,  which  set  the  matter  com- 
pletely at  rest  so  far  as  all  members  of  the  Society  were  con- 
cerned. 


196  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

Since  issuing  the  November  Journal,  a  copy  of  the  article 
on  Mrs.  Piper  published  in  the  New  York  Herald  of 
October  2Oth  [1901]  has  reached  us.  The  first  part  of 
this  is  signed  by  Mrs.  Piper  herself,  the  second  part  con- 
sisting of  comments  and  opinions  on  her  case.  The  article 
begins  by  saying  that  Mrs.  Piper  intends  to  give  up  the 
work  she  has  been  doing  for  the  S.P.R.,  in  order  to  devote 
herself  to  other  and  more  congenial  pursuits;  and  it  goes 
on  to  say  that  it  was  on  account  of  her  own  desire  to  under- 
stand the  phenomena  that  she  first  allowed  her  trances  to 
be  investigated  and  placed  herself  in  the  hands  of  scientific 
men  with  the  understanding  that  she  should  submit  to  any 
tests  they  chose  to  apply;  also  that  now,  after  fourteen  years' 
work,  the  subject  not  being  yet  cleared  up,  she  feels  disin- 
clined for  further  investigation.  As  to  her  own  view  of 
the  phenomena,  she  says: — "The  theory  of  telepathy 
strongly  appeals  to  me  as  the  most  plausible  and  genuinely 
scientific  solution  of  the  problem.  ...  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  spirits  of  the  dead  have  spoken  through  me  when 
I  have  been  in  the  trance  state.  ...  It  may  be  that 
they  have,  but  I  do  not  affirm  it." 

The  Editor  of  Light  states  in  his  issue  of  November  3Oth, 
1901,  that  he  has  received  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Piper  in  which 
she  "  explains  that,  having  heard  that  the  New  York  Herald 
people  had,  in  a  preliminary  announcement,  advertised  her 
name  with  the  word  '  Confession  '  above  it,  she  at  once  for- 
bade the  publication  of  the  article  altogether.  The  result 
was  that  she  received  a  telegram  from  the  Herald  counselling 
her  to  '  sleep  calm !  '  and  assuring  her  that  the  word  '  Con- 
fession '  had  only  been  used  in  the  way  of  '  advertising  smart- 
ness '  and  would  not  appear  in  the  Herald  article.  This 
telegram  Mrs.  Piper  has  sent  for  our  inspection  and  we  have 
it  still." 

Dr.  Hodgson  has  sent  us  cuttings  from  two  Boston  papers 
bearing  on  this  report.  The  Boston  Advertiser  of  October 
25th,  1901,  says  that  Mrs.  Piper  dictated  the  following 
statement  to  a  representative  of  theirs : — 

"  I  did  not  make  any  such  statement  as  that  published  in 
the  New  York  Herald  to  the  effect  that  spirits  of  the  de- 


MRS.  PIPER  197 

parted  do  not  control  me.  .  .  .  My  opinion  is  to-day 
as  it  was  eighteen  years  ago.  Spirits  of  the  departed  may 
have  controlled  me  and  they  may  not.  I  confess  that  I  do 
not  know.  I  have  not  changed.  ...  I  make  no 
change  in  my  relations." 

Now,  comparing  all  these  statements  together,  it  will  be 
seen  that,  neither  in  the  original  report  in  the  Herald  nor 
anywhere  else  has  any  revelation  been  made  which  could  in 
any  way  affect  the  evidential  value  of  Mrs.  Piper's  trance 
phenomena.  Her  honesty  is  not  in  question,  and  the  Herald 
speaks  of  her  throughout  in  highly  laudatory  terms.  It 
represents  her  as  holding  a  certain  view  of  the  phenomena 
—  a  view  which  is  really  incompatible  with  the  supposition 
that  they  are  fraudulent.  Mrs.  Piper's  later  utterances 
show  that,  although  the  Herald's  report  was  garbled  and 
postdated,  she  still  expresses  a  preference  for  the  telepathic 
over  the  spiritistic  hypothesis.  It  is  well  known  to  all 
members  of  the  S.P.R.,  and  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  us  to 
repeat,  that  these  two  hypotheses  have  always  been  kept 
before  the  minds  of  those  investigators  who  have  sat  with 
her;  and  since  little  value  would  be  attached  to  her  opinion 
in  favour  of  the  spiritistic  hypothesis,  it  cannot  fairly  be 
urged  that  her  opinion  on  the  other  side  should  weigh  with 
us.  Mrs.  Piper,  in  fact,  as  we  have  already  said,  is  not 
in  a  more  favourable,  but  even  in  a  less  favourable,  posi- 
tion for  forming  an  opinion  than  those  who  sit  with  her, 
since  she  does  not  afterwards  remember  what  passes  while 
she  is  in  a  trance. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  allegation  of  the  Herald  that  Mrs. 
Piper  had  determined  finally  to  discontinue  her  sittings  is 
shown  to  be  unfounded.  The  sittings  had  been  suspended 
for  some  months  owing  to  her  health;  but  one  was  held,  as 
Dr.  Hodgson  informs  us,  on  October  2ist  (the  day  after 
the  article  in  the  Herald  appeared),  and  it  was  then  ar- 
ranged to  resume  them  after  an  interval  of  three  months. 

To  sum  up,  it  is  clear  that  Mrs.  Piper  has  neither  said 
nor  done  anything  to  diminish  the  value  of  evidence  ob- 
tained through  her,  that  the  report  in  the  New  York  Herald 
was  misleading,  and  that  her  relations  with  the  Society  and 
Dr.  Hodgson  continued  on  the  same  footing  as  before. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  JAMES'S  EARLY  TESTI- 
MONY TO  MRS.  PIPER 

ALTHOUGH  Mrs.  Piper  was  brought  by  the  Society 
to  England  in  the  autumn  of  1889,  she  was  of  course 
known  to  members  of  the  Society  in  America  before 
then,  and,  so  far  as  we  were  concerned,  may  be  said  to  have 
been  "discovered"  by  Professor  William  James  in   1885. 
His  early  experience  of  her  sittings,  and  his  testimony  as  to 
the  way  in  which  his  initial  scepticism  was  broken  down,  are 
very  interesting;  and  I  shall  here  make  a  few  quotations  from 
a  short  paper  of  his  which  was  included  in  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Society  along  with  my  first  Report  of  the  Piper  Case. 

PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  JAMES'S  STATEMENT 

"  I  made  Mrs.  Piper's  acquaintance  in  the  autumn  of 
1885.  My  wife's  mother,  Mrs.  Gibbens,  had  been  told  of 
her  by  a  friend,  during  the  previous  summer,  and,  never  hav- 
ing seen  a  medium  before,  had  paid  her  a  visit  out  of  curi- 
osity. She  returned  with  the  statement  that  Mrs.  P.  had 
given  her  a  long  string  of  names  of  members  of  the  family, 
mostly  Christian  names,  together  with  facts  about  the  persons 
mentioned  and  their  relations  to  each  other,  the  knowledge 
of  which  on  her  part  was  incomprehensible  without  super- 
normal powers.  My  sister-in-law  went  the  next  day,  with 
still  better  results,  as  she  related  them.  Amongst  other 
things,  the  medium  had  accurately  described  the  circum- 

198 


TESTIMONY  OF  WM.  JAMES  199 

stances  of  the  writer  of  a  letter  which  she  held  against  her 
forehead,  after  Miss  G.  had  given  it  to  her.  The  letter 
was  in  Italian,  and  its  writer  was  known  to  but  two  persons 
in  this  country. 

"  I  may  add  that  on  a  later  occasion  my  wife  and  I  took 
another  letter  from  this  same  person  to  Mrs.  P.  who  went 
on  to  speak  of  him  in  a  way  which  identified  him  unmistak- 
ably again.  On  a  third  occasion,  two  years  later,  my  sister- 
in-law  and  I  being  again  with  Mrs.  P.,  she  reverted  in  her 
trance  to  these  letters,  and  then  gave  us  the  writer's  name, 
which  she  said  she  had  not  been  able  to  get  on  the  former 
occasion. 

"But  to  revert  to  the  beginning.  I  remember  playing 
the  esprit  fort  on  that  occasion  before  my  feminine  relatives, 
and  seeking  to  explain  by  simple  considerations  the  marvel- 
lous character  of  the  facts  which  they  brought  back.  This 
did  not,  however,  prevent  me  from  going  myself  a  few 
days  later,  in  company  with  my  wife,  to  get  a  direct  personal 
impression.  The  names  of  none  of  us  up  to  this  meeting  had 
been  announced  to  Mrs.  P.;  and  Mrs.  J.  and  I  were,  of 
course,  careful  to  make  no  reference  to  our  relatives  who  had 
preceded.  The  medium,  however,  when  entranced,  repeated 
most  of  the  names  of  '  spirits  '  whom  she  had  announced  on 
the  two  former  occasions,  and  added  others.  The  names 
came  with  difficulty,  and  were  only  gradually  made  perfect. 
My  wife's  father's  name  of  Gibbens  was  announced  first  as 
Niblin,  then  as  Giblin.  A  child  Herman  (whom  we  had  lost 
the  previous  year)  had  his  name  spelt  out  as  Herrin.  I 
think  that  in  no  case  were  both  Christian  and  surnames  given 
on  this  visit.  But  the  facts  predicated  of  the  persons  named 
made  it  in  many  instances  impossible  not  to  recognise  the 
particular  individuals  who  were  talked  about.  We  took  par- 
ticular pains  on  this  occasion  to  give  the  Phinuit  control  no 


200  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

help  over  his  difficulties  and  to  ask  no  leading  questions.  In 
the  light  of  subsequent  experience  I  believe  this  not  to  be  the 
best  policy.  For  it  often  happens,  if  you  give  this  trance- 
personage  a  name  or  some  small  fact  for  the  lack  of  which 
he  is  brought  to  a  standstill,  that  he  will  then  start  off  with 
a  copious  flow  of  additional  talk,  containing  in  itself  an 
abundance  of  '  tests.' 

"  My  impression  after  this  first  visit  was,  that  Mrs.  P.  was 
either  possessed  of  supernormal  powers,  or  knew  the  members 
of  my  wife's  family  by  sight  and  had  by  some  lucky  coinci- 
dence become  acquainted  with  such  a  multitude  of  their  do- 
mestic circumstances  as  to  produce  the  startling  impression 
which  she  did.  My  later  knowledge  of  her  sittings  and  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  her  has  led  me  absolutely  to  reject 
the  latter  explanation,  and  to  believe  that  she  has  super- 
normal powers. 

"  I  also  made  during  this  winter  an  attempt  to  see 
whether  Mrs.  Piper's  medium-trance  had  any  community  of 
nature  with  ordinary  hypnotic  trance. 

"  My  first  two  attempts  to  hypnotise  her  were  unsuc- 
cessful. Between  the  second  time  and  the  third,  I  suggested 
to  her  '  control '  in  the  medium-trance  that  he  should  make 
her  a  mesmeric  subject  for  me.  He  agreed.  (A  sugges- 
tion of  this  sort  made  by  the  operator  in  one  hypnotic  trance 
would  probably  have  some  effect  on  the  next.)  She  became 
partially  hypnotised  on  the  third  trial;  but  the  effect  was  so 
slight  that  I  ascribe  it  rather  to  the  effect  of  repetition  than 
to  the  suggestion  made.  By  the  fifth  trial  she  had  become 
a  pretty  good  hypnotic  subject,  as  far  as  muscular  phenomena 
and  automatic  imitations  of  speech  and  gesture  go;  but  I 
could  not  affect  her  consciousness,  or  otherwise  get  her  be- 
yond this  point.  Her  condition  in  this  semi-hypnosis  is  very 
different  from  her  medium-trance.  The  latter  is  character- 


TESTIMONY  OF  WM.  JAMES  201 

ised  by  great  muscular  unrest,  even  her  ears  moving  vigor- 
ously in  a  way  impossible  to  her  in  her  waking  state.  But  in 
hypnosis  her  muscular  relaxation  and  weakness  are  extreme. 
She  often  makes  several  efforts  to  speak  ere  her  voice  be- 
comes audible;  and  to  get  a  strong  contraction  of  the  hand, 
for  example,  express  manipulation  and  suggestion  must  be 
practised.  The  automatic  imitations  I  spoke  of  are  in  the 
first  instance  very  weak,  and  only  become  strong  after  repeti- 
tion. Her  pupils  contract  in  the  medium-trance.  Sugges- 
tions to  the  '  control '  that  he  should  make  her  recollect  after 
the  medium-trance  what  she  had  been  saying  were  accepted, 
but  had  no  result.  In  the  hypnotic-trance  such  a  suggestion 
will  often  make  the  patient  remember  all  that  has  happened. 

"  No  sign  of  thought-transference  —  as  tested  by  card 
and  diagram  guessing  —  has  been  found  in  her,  either  in  the 
hypnotic  condition  just  described,  or  immediately  after  it; 
although  her  '  control '  in  the  medium-trance  has  said  that 
he  would  bring  them  about.  So  far  as  tried  (only  twice), 
no  right  guessing  of  cards  in  the  medium-trance.  No  clear 
signs  of  thought-transference,  as  tested  by  the  naming  of 
cards  during  the  waking  state.  Trials  of  the  '  willing  game,' 
and  attempts  at  automatic  writing,  «gave  similarly  negative 
results.  So  far  as  the  evidence  goes,  then,  her  medium- 
trance  seems  an  isolated  feature  in  her  psychology.  This 
would  of  itself  be  an  important  result  if  it  could  be  estab- 
lished and  generalised,  but  the  record  is  obviously  too  im- 
perfect for  confident  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  it  in  any 
direction." 

"  Here  I  dropped  my  inquiries  into  Mrs.  Piper's  medium- 
ship  for  a  period  of  about  two  years,  having  satisfied  myself 
that  there  was  a  genuine  mystery  there,  but  being  over- 
freighted with  time-consuming  duties,  and  feeling  that  any 
adequate  circumnavigation  of  the  phenomena  would  be  too 


202  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

protracted  a  task  for  me  to  aspire  just  then  to  undertake. 
I  saw  her  once,  half-accidentally,  however,  during  that  in- 
terval, and  in  the  spring  of  1889  saw  her  four  times  again. 
In  the  fall  of  1889  she  paid  us  a  visit  of  a  week  at  our  country 
house  in  New  Hampshire,  and  I  then  learned  to  know  her 
personally  better  than  ever  before,  and  had  confirmed  in  me 
the  belief  that  she  is  an  absolutely  simple  and  genuine  per- 
son. No  one,  when  challenged,  can  give  '  evidence '  to 
others  for  such  beliefs  as  this.  Yet  we  all  live  by  them 
from  day  to  day,  and  practically  I  should  be  willing  now  to 
stake  as  much  money  on  Mrs.  Piper's  honesty  as  on  that  of 
anyone  I  know,  and  am  quite  satisfied  to  leave  my  reputation 
for  wisdom  or  folly,  so  far  as  human  nature  is  concerned,  to 
stand  or  fall  by  this  declaration. 

"  And  I  repeat  again  what  I  said  before,  that,  taking 
everything  that  I  know  of  Mrs.  P.  into  account,  the  result  is 
to  make  me  feel  as  absolutely  certain  as  I  am  of  any  per- 
sonal fact  in  the  world  that  she  knows  things  in  her  trances 
which  she  cannot  possibly  have  heard  in  her  waking  state, 
and  that  the  definitive  philosophy  of  her  trances  is  yet  to  be 
found.  The  limitations  of  her  trance-information,  its  dis- 
continuity and  fitfulness,  and  its  apparent  inability  to  develop 
beyond  a  certain  point,  although  they  end  by  rousing  one's 
moral  and  human  impatience  with  the  phenomenon,  yet  are, 
from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  amongst  its  most  interesting 
peculiarities,  since  where  there  are  limits  there  are  condi- 
tions, and  the  discovery  of  these  is  always  the  beginning  of 
explanation." 

The  most  recent  utterance  of  Professor  William  James 
on  the  subject  is  published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  S.  P.  R. 
for  June,  1909  (Part  LVIII.),  and  it  contains  an  account  of 
conversations  carried  on  through  Mrs.  Piper  since  Dr. 


TESTIMONY  OF  WM.  JAMES  203 

Hodgson's  death  with  what  purported  to  be  Dr.  Hodgson's 
surviving  personality  —  together  with  Professor  James's 
critical  comments  thereupon.  I  do  not  quote,  since  the  pub- 
lication can  easily  be  obtained. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE  AUTHOR'S  FIRST  REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER 


M 


Y  own  first  report  on  this  case  appeared  in  1890, 
soon  after  the  close  of  Mrs.  Piper's  first  visit  to 
England,  and  it  ran  as  follows : — 


ACCOUNT  OF  SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 
Formal  Report 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  Myers  I  undertook  a  share  in 
the  investigation  of  a  case  of  apparent  clairvoyance. 

It  is  the  case  of  a  lady  who  appears  to  go  off  into  a 
trance  when  she  pleases  to  will  it  under  favourable  surround- 
ings, and  in  that  trance  to  talk  volubly,  with  a  manner  and 
voice  quite  different  from  her  ordinary  manner  and  voice, 
on  details  concerning  which  she  has  had  no  information 
given  her. 

In  this  abnormal  state  her  speech  has  reference  mainly  to 
people's  relatives  and  friends,  living  or  deceased,  about  whom 
she  is  able  to  hold  a  conversation,  and  with  whom  she  ap- 
pears more  or  less  familiar. 

By  introducing  anonymous  strangers,  and  by  catechising 
her  myself  in  various  ways,  I  have  satisfied  myself  that 
much  of  the  information  she  possesses  in  the  trance  state  is 
not  acquired  by  ordinary  commonplace  methods,  but  that 
she  has  some  unusual  means  of  acquiring  information.  The 
facts  on  which  she  discourses  are  usually  within  the  knowl- 
edge of  some  person  present,  though  they  are  often  entirely 
out  of  his  conscious  thought  at  the  time.  Occasionally  facts 
have  been  narrated  which  have  only  been  verified  afterwards, 
and  which  are  in  good  faith  asserted  never  to  have  been 

204 


REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER  205 

known;  meaning  thereby  that  they  have  left  no  trace  on 
the  conscious  memory  of  any  person  present  or  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  that  it  is  highly  improbable  that  they  were 
ever  known  to  such  persons. 

She  is  also  in  the  trance  state  able  to  diagnose  diseases, 
and  to  specify  the  owners  or  late  owners  of  portable  prop- 
erty, under  circumstances  which  preclude  the  application  of 
ordinary  methods. 

In  the  midst  of  this  lucidity  a  number  of  mistaken  and 
confused  statements  are  frequently  made,  having  little  or  no 
apparent  meaning  or  application. 

Concerning  the  particular  means  by  which  she  acquires 
the  different  kinds  of  information,  there  is  no  sufficient  evi- 
dence to  make  it  safe  to  draw  any  conclusion.  I  can  only 
say  with  certainty  that  it  is  by  none  of  the  ordinary  methods 
known  to  Physical  Science. 

OLIVER  J.  LODGE 

May,  1890 

In  order  to  gain  experience,  my  wife  had  invited  Mrs. 
Piper  to  our  house  in  Liverpool  between  the  dates  Decem- 
ber 1 8th  and  December  2yth,  1889;  and  again  between  the 
dates  January  3Oth  and  February  5th,  1890,  when  she  sailed 
for  New  York. 

During  these  days  we  had  twenty-two  sittings,  and  I  de- 
voted my  whole  time  to  the  business,  being  desirous  of  mak- 
ing the  investigation  as  complete  and  satisfactory  as  possible 
while  the  opportunity  lasted. 

Mrs.  Piper  pretends  to  no  knowledge  as  to  her  own  pow- 
ers, and  I  believe  her  assertion  that  she  is  absolutely  igno- 
rant of  what  she  has  said  in  the  trance  state.  She  appears  to 
be  anxious  to  get  the  phenomenon  elucidated,  and  hopes  by 
sitting  to  scientific  investigators  to  have  light  thrown  on  her 
abnormal  condition,  about  which  she  expresses  herself  as  not 
quite  comfortable.  She  perfectly  appreciates  the  reason- 
ableness of  withholding  information;  assents  with  a  smile 


206  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

to  a  sudden  stop  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  and  in  general 
is  quite  uninquisitivc.  All  this  innocency  may,  of  course,  be 
taken  as  perfection  of  acting,  but  it  deprives  her  of  the  great 
advantage  (assuming  fraudulent  intention  for  the  moment) 
of  controlling  the  circumstances  after  the  manner  of  a  con- 
jurer; and  prevents  her  from  being  the  master  of  her  own 
time  and  movements.  The  control  of  the  experiments  was 
thus  entirely  in  my  own  hands,  and  this  is  an  essential  ingre- 
dient for  satisfactory  testimony. 

The  initial  question  to  be  satisfactorily  answered,  before 
anything  can  be  held  worth  either  investigating  or  record- 
ing, concerns  the  honesty  of  Mrs.  Piper  herself. 

That  there  is  more  than  can  be  explained  by  any  amount 
of  either  conscious  or  unconscious  fraud- — that  the  phe- 
nomenon is  a  genuine  one,  however  it  is  to  be  explained  —  I 
now  regard  as  absolutely  certain;  and  I  make  the  following 
two  statements  with  the  utmost  confidence : — 

(i.)    Mrs.  Piper's  attitude  is  not  one  of  deception. 

(ii.)  No  conceivable  deception  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Piper 
can  explain  the  facts. 

[I  went  on  to  enumerate  eight  possibilities  of  imposture 
against  which  we  were  on  our  guard:  but  matters  have  ad- 
vanced far  beyond  that  now,  and  it  is  useless  to  dwell  upon 
this  discarded  part  of  the  subject.] 

Cheating  being  eliminated,  and  something  which  may 
briefly  be  described  as  a  duplex  or  trance  personality  being 
conceded,  the  next  hypothesis  is  that  her  trance  personality 
makes  use  of  information  acquired  by  her  in  her  waking 
state,  and  retails  what  it  finds  in  her  sub-consciousness  with- 
out any  ordinary  effort  of  memory. 

It  is  an  interesting  question  whether  any  facts  instilled 
into  the  waking  Mrs.  Piper  can  be  recognised  in  the  subse- 
quent trance  speech.  My  impression  at  one  time  was  that 


REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER  207 

the  trance  information  is  practically  independent  of  what  spe- 
cific facts  Mrs.  Piper  may  happen  to  know.  The  evidence 
now  seems  to  me  about  evenly  balanced  on  either  side. 
Whether  the  trance  speech  could  give,  say,  scientific  facts, 
or  a  foreign  language,  or  anything  in  its  nature  entirely  be- 
yond her  ken,  I  am  unable  to  say.  [Further  information  on 
these  points  is  now  accessible,  but  not  anything  finally  con- 
clusive. It  appears  that  unknown  details  and  incidents  can 
certainly  be  obtained,  but  hardly  information  on  some  alien 
and  recondite  subject, —  at  least  without  great  difficulty.] 
So  far  as  my  present  experience  has  gone,  I  do  not  feel  sure 
how  far  Mrs.  Piper's  knowledge  or  ignorance  of  specific 
facts  has  an  appreciable  influence  on  the  communications  of 
her  trance  personality.  But  certainly  the  great  mass  of  facts 
retailed  by  this  personality  are  wholly  outside  of  Mrs.  Piper's 
knowledge ;  in  detail,  though  not  in  kind. 

The  personality  active  and  speaking  in  the  trance  is  ap- 
parently so  distinct  from  the  personality  of  Mrs.  Piper  that 
it  is  permissible  and  convenient  to  call  it  by  another  name. 
It  does  not  differ  from  her  as  Hyde  did  from  Jekyll,  by  be- 
ing a  personification  of  the  vicious  portion  of  the  same  indi- 
vidual. There  is  no  special  contrast,  any  more  than  there 
is  any  special  similarity.  It  strikes  one  as  a  different  per- 
sonality altogether;  and  the  name  by  which  it  introduces 
itself  when  asked,  viz.,  "  Dr.  Phinuit,"  is  as  convenient  as 
any  other,  and  can  be  used  wholly  irrespective  of  hy- 
pothesis. 

I  would  not,  in  using  this  name,  be  understood  as  there- 
by committing  myself  to  any  hypothesis  regarding  the  na- 
ture of  this  apparently  distinct  and  individual  mind.  At 
the  same  time  the  name  is  useful  as  expressing  compactly 
what  is  naturally  prominent  to  the  feeling  of  any  sitter,  that 
he  is  not  talking  to  Mrs.  Piper  at  all.  The  manner,  mode 


208  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

of  thought,  tone,  trains  of  idea,  are  all  different.  You  are 
speaking  no  longer  to  a  lady,  but  to  a  man,  an  old  man,  a 
medical  man.  All  this  cannot  but  be  vividly  felt  even  by  one 
who  considered  the  impersonation  a  consummate  piece  of  act- 
ing. 

Whether  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Phinuit  ever  existed  I  do 
not  know,  nor  from  the  evidential  point  of  view  do  I  greatly 
care.  It  will  be  interesting  to  have  the  fact  ascertained  if 
possible;  but  I  cannot  see  that  it  will  much  affect  the  ques- 
tion of  genuineness.  For  that  he  did  not  ever  exist  is  a 
thing  practically  impossible  to  prove.  While,  if  he  did  ex- 
ist, it  can  be  easily  supposed  that  Mrs.  Piper  took  care 
enough  that  her  impersonation  should  have  so  much  rational 
basis. 

Proceeding  now  on  the  assumption  that  I  may  speak 
henceforth  of  Dr.  Phinuit  as  of  a  genuine  individual  intelli- 
gence, whether  it  be  a  usually  latent  portion  of  Mrs.  Piper's 
intelligence,  or  whether  it  be  something  distinct  from  her 
mind  and  the  education  to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  I 
go  on  to  consider  the  hypotheses  which  still  remain  unex- 
amined. 

And  first  we  have  the  hypothesis  of  fishery  on  the  part 
of  Dr.  Phinuit,  as  distinguished  from  trickery  on  the  part 
of  Mrs.  Piper.  I  mean  a  system  of  ingenious  fishing:  the 
utilisation  of  trivial  indications,  of  every  intimation  — 
audible,  tactile,  muscular  —  and  of  little  shades  of  manner 
too  indefinable  to  name ;  all  these,  excited  in  the  sitter  by  skil- 
ful guesses  and  well-directed  shots,  and  their  nutriment  ex- 
tracted with  superhuman  cunning. 

Now  this  hypothesis  is  not  one  to  be  lightly  regarded,  or 
ever  wholly  set  aside.  I  regard  it  as,  to  a  certain  extent,  a 
vera  causa.  At  times  Dr.  Phinuit  does  fish;  occasionally  he 


REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER  209 

guesses;  and  sometimes  he  ekes  out  the  scantiness  of  his  in- 
formation from  the  resources  of  a  lively  imagination. 

Whenever  his  supply  of  information  is  abundant  there  is 
no  sign  of  the  fishing  process. 

At  other  times  it  is  as  if  he  were  in  a  difficult  position, — 
only  able  to  gain  information  from  very  indistinct  or  in- 
audible sources,  and  yet  wishful  to  convey  as  much  informa- 
tion as  possible.  The  attitude  is  then  as  of  one  straining 
after  every  clue,  and  making  use  of  the  slightest  indication, 
whether  received  in  normal  or  abnormal  ways :  not  indeed 
obviously  distinguishing  between  information  received  from 
the  sitter  and  information  received  from  other  sources. 

I  am  familiar  with  muscle-reading  and  other  simulated 
"  thought-transference  "  methods,  and  prefer  to  avoid  con- 
tact whenever  it  is  possible  to  get  rid  of  it  without  too  much 
fuss.  Although  Mrs.  Piper  always  held  somebody's  hand 
while  preparing  to  go  into  the  trance,  she  did  not  always 
continue  to  hold  it  when  speaking  as  Phinuit.  She  did 
usually  hold  the  hand  of  the  person  she  was  speaking  to,  but 
was  often  satisfied  for  a  time  with  some  other  person's, 
sometimes  talking  right  across  a  room  to  and  about  a  stran- 
ger, but  preferring  them  to  come  near.  On  several  occasions 
she  let  go  of  everybody,  for  half-hours  together,  especially 
when  fluent  and  kept  well  supplied  with  "  relics." 

I  have  now  to  assert  with  entire  confidence  that,  pressing 
the  ingenious-guessing  and  unconscious-indication  hypothesis 
to  its  utmost  limit,  it  can  only  be  held  to  account  for  a  very 
few  of  Dr.  Phinuit's  statements. 

It  cannot  in  all  cases  be  held  to  account  for  medical  diag- 
nosis, afterwards  confirmed  by  the  regular  practitioner.  It 
cannot  account  for  minute  and  full  details  of  names,  circum- 
stances, and  events,  given  to  a  cautious  and  almost  silent  sit- 


210  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

ter,  sometimes  without  contact.  And,  to  take  the  strongest 
case  at  once,  it  cannot  account  for  the  narration  of  facts  out- 
side the  conscious  knowledge  of  the  sitter  or  of  any  person 
present. 

Rejecting  the  fishery  hypothesis,  then,  as  insufficient  to 
account  for  many  of  the  facts,  we  are  driven  to  the  only  re- 
maining known  cause  in  order  to  account  for  them : —  viz., 
thought-transference,  or  the  action  of  mind  on  mind  inde- 
pendently of  the  ordinary  channels  of  communication. 

I  regard  the  fact  of  genuine  "  thought-transference  "  be- 
tween persons  in  immediate  proximity  (not  necessarily  in 
contact)  as  having  been  established  by  direct  and  simple  ex- 
periment ;  and,  except  by  reason  of  paucity  of  instance,  I  con- 
sider it  as  firmly  grounded  as  any  of  the  less  familiar  facts 
of  nature  such  as  one  deals  with  in  a  laboratory.  I  speak  of 
it  therefore  as  a  known  cause,  i.e.,  one  to  which  there  need  be 
no  hesitation  in  appealing  in  order  to  explain  facts  which 
without  it  would  be  inexplicable. 

The  Phinuit  facts  are  most  of  them  of  this  nature,  and 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  confidently  that  thought-transfer- 
ence is  the  most  commonplace  explanation  to  which  it  is  pos- 
sible to  appeal. 

I  regard  it  as  having  been  rigourously  proved  before,  and 
as  therefore  requiring  no  fresh  bolstering  up ;  but  to  the  many 
who  have  not  made  experiments  on  the  subject,  and  are  there- 
fore naturally  sceptical  concerning  even  thought-transference, 
the  record  of  the  Phinuit  sittings  will  afford,  I  think,  a  secure 
basis  for  faith  in  this  immaterial  mode  of  communication, — 
this  apparently  direct  action  of  mind  on  mind. 

But,  whereas  the  kind  of  thought-tra*  sference  which  had 
been  to  my  own  knowledge  experimentally  proved  was  a 
hazy  and  difficult  recognition  by  one  person  of  objects  kept  as 
vividly  as  possible  in  the  consciousness  of  another  person, 


REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER  211 

the  kind  of  thought-transference  necessary  to  explain  these 
sittings  is  of  an  altogether  freer  and  higher  order, —  a  kind 
which  has  not  yet  been  experimentally  proved  at  all.  Facts 
are  related  which  are  not  in  the  least  present  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  sitter,  and  they  are  often  detailed  glibly  and 
vividly  without  delay;  in  very  different  style  from  the  tedious 
and  hesitating  dimness  of  the  percipients  in  the  old  thought- 
transference  experiments. 

But  that  is  natural  enough,  when  we  consider  that  the 
percipient  in  those  experiments  had  to  preserve  a  mind  as 
vacant  as  possible.  For  no  process  of  inducing  mental  va- 
cancy can  be  so  perfect  as  that  of  going  into  a  trance,  whether 
hypnotic  or  other.  Moreover,  although  it  was  considered 
desirable  to  maintain  the  object  contemplated  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  agent,  a  shrewd  suspicion  was  even  then 
entertained  that  the  subconscious  part  of  the  agent's  mind 
might  be  perhaps  equally  effective. 

Hence  one  is  at  liberty  to  apply  to  these  Phinuit  records 
the  hypothesis  of  thought-transference  in  its  most  developed 
state :  vacuity  on  the  part  of  the  percipient,  sub-conscious  ac- 
tivity on  the  part  of  the  sitter. 

In  this  form  one  feels  that  much  can  be  explained.  If 
Dr.  Phinuit  tells  a  stranger  how  many  children,  or  brothers, 
or  sisters  he  has,  and  their  names;  the  names  of  father  and 
mother  and  grandmother,  of  cousins  and  of  aunts;  if  he 
brings  appropriate  and  characteristic  messages  from  well- 
known  relatives  deceased;  all  this  is  explicable  on  the 
hypothesis  of  free  and  easy  thought-transference  from  the 
sub-consciousness  of  the  sitter  to  the  sensitive  medium  of  the 
trance  personality.1 

1  For  instance,  in  the  course  of  my  interviews,  all  my  six  brothers 
(adult  and  scattered)  and  one  sister  living  were  correctly  named  (two 
with  some  help),  and  the  existence  of  the  one  deceased  was  mentioned. 
My  father  and  his  father  were  likewise  named,  with  several  uncles  and 


212  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

So  strongly  was  I  impressed  with  this  view  that  after  some 
half-dozen  sittings  I  ceased  to  feel  much  interest  in  being 
told  things,  however  minute,  obscure,  and  inaccessible  they 
might  be,  so  long  as  they  were,  or  had  been,  within  the 
knowledge  either  of  myself  or  of  the  sitter  for  the  time  be- 
ing. 

At  the  same  time  it  ought  to  be  constantly  borne  in  mind 
that  this  kind  of  thought-transference,  without  consciously 
active  agency,  has  never  been  experimentally  proved.  Cer- 
tain facts  not  otherwise  apparently  explicable,  such  as  those 
chronicled  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  have  suggested  it,  but 
it  is  really  only  a  possible  hypothesis  to  which  appeal  has  been 
made  whenever  any  other  explanation  seems  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. But  until  it  is  actually  established  by  experiment,  in 
the  same  way  that  conscious  mind  action  has  been  established, 
it  cannot  be  regarded  as  either  safe  or  satisfactory;  and  in 
pursuing  it  we  may  be  turning  our  backs  on  some  truer  but 
as  yet  perhaps  unsuggested  clue.  I  feel  as  if  this  caution 
were  necessary  for  myself  as  well  as  for  other  investigators. 

On  reading  the  record  it  will  be  apparent  that  while 
"  Phinuit "  frequently  speaks  in  his  own  person,  relating 
things  which  he  himself  discovers  by  what  I  suppose  we  must 
call  ostensible  clairvoyance,  sometimes  he  represents  himself 
as  in  communication  —  not  always  quite  easy  and  distinct 
communication,  especially  at  first,  but  in  communication  — 
with  one's  relatives  and  friends  who  have  departed  this  life. 

The  messages  and  communications  from  these  persons  are 
usually  given  through  Phinuit  as  a  reporter.  And  he  re- 
ports sometimes  in  the  third  person,  sometimes  in  the  first. 

aunts.  My  wife's  father  and  stepfather,  both  deceased,  were  named 
in  full,  both  Christian  and  surname,  with  full  identifying  detail.  I  only 
quote  these  as  examples;  it  is  quite  unnecessary  as  well  as  unwise  to 
attach  any  evidential  weight  to  statements  of  this  sort  made  during  a 
sojourn  in  one's  house. 


REPORT  ON  MRS.  PIPER  213 

Occasionally,  but  very  seldom,  Phinuit  seems  to  give  up  his 
place  altogether  to  the  other  personality,  friend  or  relative, 
who  then  communicates  with  something  of  his  old  manner 
and  individuality;  becoming  often  impressive  and  realistic. 

This  last  I  say  is  rare,  but  with  one  or  two  personages  it 
occurs,  subject  to  reservations  to  be  mentioned  directly;  and 
when  it  does,  Phinuit  does  not  appear  to  know  what  has  been 
said.  It  is  quite  as  if  he  in  his  turn  evacuated  the  body,  just 
as  Mrs.  Piper  had  done,  while  a  third  personality  utilises 
it  for  a  time.  The  voice  and  mode  of  address  are  once  more 
changed,  and  more  or  less  recall  the  voice  and  manner  of  the 
person  represented  as  communicating. 

The  communications  thus  obtained,  though  they  show 
traces  of  the  individuality  of  the  person  represented  as  speak- 
ing, are  frequently  vulgarised;  and  the  speeches  are  more 
commonplace,  and  so  to  say  "  cheaper,"  than  what  one  would 
suppose  likely  from  the  person  himself.  It  can,  of  course, 
be  suggested  that  the  necessity  of  working  through  the  brain 
of  a  person  not  exceptionally  educated  may  easily  be  supposed 
capable  of  dulling  the  edge  of  refinement,  and  of  rendering 
messages  on  abstruse  subjects  impossible. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS 

AND  now  might  follow  a  detailed  report  of  the  sit- 
tings which  at  that  date  (1889-1890)  I  held  with 
Mrs.  Piper  in  my  house  at  Liverpool,  all  of  which 
were  taken  down  very  fully;  some  of  them  verbatim  by  a 
stenographer  introduced  on  those  occasions.  For  in  those 
days  communication  was  conducted  entirely  by  the  voice; 
writing  being  quite  exceptional  and  limited  to  a  few  words 
occasionally.  Whereas  in  more  recent  years  communication 
is  for  the  most  part  conducted  by  writing  only,  and  the  need 
for  stenography  has  practically  ceased. 

My  detailed  report  appears  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  So- 
ciety, vol.  vi.,  but  it  occupies  a  great  deal  of  space,  and 
would  be  merely  tiresome  if  reproduced  in  any  quantity. 
Accordingly  I  propose  to  make  only  a  few  extracts,  quoting 
those  incidents  which  demonstrate  one  or  other  of  the  fol- 
lowing powers;  or  which  illustrate  by  way  of  example  the 
general  character  of  the  sittings  at  that  time, —  regarded 
rather  from  the  dramatic  than  from  the  evidential  point  of 
view. 

The  powers  just  referred  to  are  the  following : — 

1 i )  The  perception  of  trivial  events  simultaneously  oc- 

curring at  a  distance. 

(2)  The  reading  of  letters  by  other  than  normal  means. 

(3)  The  recognition  of  objects  and  assignment  of  them 

to  their  respective  owners. 
214 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS       215 

(4)  Perception  of  small  and  intimate  family  details  in  the 

case  of  complete  strangers. 

(5)  The  statement  of  facts  unknown  at  the  time  to  any 

person  present; 

(6)  With  perhaps  a  supplement  illustrating  apparent  ig- 

norance of  some  facts  within  Mrs.  Piper's  normal 
knowledge,  and  likewise  —  what  are  frequent  — 
instances  of  erroneous  statement  concerning  facts 
which  are  well  known  to,  and  in  the  mind  of,  the 
sitter. 

Among  sitters,  I  may  mention  Dr.  Gerald  Rendall,  late 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  then  Principal  of  University 
College,  Liverpool.  He  was  introduced  as  Mr.  Roberts, 
and  a  sitting  was  immediately  commenced.  The  names  of 
his  brothers  were  all  given  correctly  at  this  or  at  the  even- 
ing sitting  of  the  same  day,  with  many  specific  details  which 
were  correct. 

He  brought  with  him  a  locket,  and  received  communica- 
tions and  reminiscences  purporting  to  come  from  the  deceased 
friend  whom  it  commemorated,  some  of  them  at  present  in- 
completely verified  by  reason  of  absence  of  persons  in 
America,  some  of  them  apparently  incorrect,  but  those  facts 
which  he  knew  correctly  stated  in  such  a  way  as  to  satisfy 
him  that  chance  guessing  and  all  other  commonplace  sur- 
mises were  absurdly  out  of  the  question. 

Another  sitter  was  Prof.  E.  C.  K.  Conner,  then  Lecturer 
on  Economics  at  University  College,  Liverpool,  introduced 
as  Mr.  McCunn,  another  colleague  with  whom  therefore 
he  might  on  a  fraudulent  hypothesis  be  confused.  He 
brought  a  book  belonging  to  his  mother,  still  living  in 
London,  and  had  many  correct  details  concerning  her  family 
and  surroundings  related  to  him. 


216  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

'  Many  of  his  own  family  were  also  mentioned;  but, 
whether  because  of  the  book  or  otherwise,  his  mother's  in- 
fluence seemed  more  powerful  than  his  own;  and,  several 
times,  relatives,  though  otherwise  spoken  of  correctly,  were 
mentioned  in  terms  of  their  relationship  to  the  elder  genera- 
tion. Phinuit,  however,  seemed  conscious  of  these  mistakes 
and  several  times  corrected  himself;  as  for  instance: 
"  Your  brother  William  —  no,  I  mean  your  uncle,  her 
brother." 

'  This  Uncle  William  was  a  good  instance.  He  had  died 
before  Prof.  Conner  was  born,  but  he  had  been  his  mother's 
eldest  brother,  and  his  sudden  death  had  been  a  great  shock 
to  her  —  one  in  fact  from  which  she  was  a  long  time  recover- 
ing. Phinuit  described  him  as  having  been  killed  with  a 
hole  in  his  head,  like  a  shot  hole,  and  yet  not  a  shot,  more  like 
a  blow : —  the  fact  being  that  he  met  his  death  in  a  York- 
shire election  riot,  a  stone  striking  him  on  the  head. 

4  Speaking  of  deaths,  I  may  also  mention  the  case  of  my 
wife's  father,  who  died  when  she  was  a  fortnight  old  in  a 
dramatic  and  pathetic  fashion.  Phinuit  described  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  death  rather  vividly.  The  cause  of  death 
of  her  stepfather  also,  which  was  perfectly  definite,  was  also 
precisely  grasped.  The  fall  of  her  own  father  down  the 
hold  of  his  ship  and  his  consequent  leg-pain  were  clearly 
stated.  My  wife  was  present  on  these  occasions,  and  of 
course  had  been  told  of  all  these  family  incidents,  and  re- 
membered them.' 

As  an  illustration  of  the  facility  with  which  in  those  days 
Dr.  Phinuit  arrived  at  the  relatives  and  their  peculiarities  of 
a  complete  stranger,  I  take  the  case  of  two  sittings  on  the 
same  day  at  which  a  medical  man  practising  in  Liverpool  was 
introduced  without  notice  by  the  false  name  of  Dr.  Jones. 
During  the  sitting  the  name,  tastes,  and  defect  of  one  little 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      217 

deaf  and  dumb  daughter,  *  Daisy,'  of  whom  he  was  very 
fond,  were  vividly  stated.  My  children  are  not  acquainted 
with  his. 

I  may  say  that  Dr.  C.  was  almost  entirely  silent.  Occa- 
sionally he  assented  with  a  grunt,  but  I  found  afterwards 
that  he  was  assenting  to  wrong  quite  as  much  as  to  right 
statements.  I  hardly  ever  knew  what  was  right  and  what 
wrong  as  I  took  the  notes.  He  was  thus  an  excellent  though 
trying  sitter.  Phinuit  was  in  one  of  his  most  loquacious 
moods,  or  he  would  not  have  progressed  so  well.  Towards 
the  end  one  could  see  he  began  to  get  tired  of  his  own  mon- 
ologue. The  following  is  a  very  abbreviated  record: — 

Sitting  No.  42.     Monday  morning,  December  2$rd 

Present:     Dr.  C.   (introduced  as  Dr.  Jones)  and  O.  J.  L. 

[The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  correct,  or  subsequently 
corrected  or  otherwise  noteworthy,  statements.  The  false  ones  are 
similarly  collected  and  appear  later.] 

"You  have  a  little  lame  girl,  lame  in  the  thigh,  aged  13;  either 
second  or  third.  She's  a  little  daisy.  I  do  like  her.  Dark  eyes, 
the  gentlest  of  the  lot ;  good  deal  of  talent  for  music.  She  will  be  a 
brilliant  woman;  don't  forget  it.  She  has  more  sympathy,  more 
mind,  more  —  quite  a  little  daisy.  She's  got  a  mark,  a  curious  little 
mark,  when  you  look  closely,  over  eye,  a  scar  through  forehead  over 
left  eye.  The  boy's  erratic;  a  little  thing,  but  a  little  devil.  Pretty 
good  when  you  know  him.  He'll  make  an  architect  likely.  Let 
him  go  to  school.  His  mother's  too  nervous.  It  will  do  him  good. 
[This  was  a  subject  in  dispute.]  You  have  a  boy  and  two  girls 
and  a  baby;  four  in  the  body.  It's  the  little  lame  one  I  care  for. 
There  are  trwo  mothers  connected  with  you,  one  named  Mary.  Your 
aunt  passed  out  with  cancer.  You  have  indigestion,  and  take  hot 
water  for  it.  You  have  had  a  bad  experience.  You  nearly  slipped 
out  once  on  the  water.  [Dangerous  yacht  accident  last  summer. 
Above  statements  are  correct  except  the  lameness.  See  next  sitting.] 


2i8  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

He  came  again  the  same  evening  and  brought  his  wife. 
This  time,  unfortunately,  they  were  admitted  by  a  servant, 
who  announced  their  names.  Phinuit  did  not  mention  it, 
however.  The  full  account  of  these  sittings  is  long,  and 
would  require  a  great  deal  of  annotation  to  make  the  details 
clear.  For  the  sake  of  brevity,  I  purpose  merely  to  abstract 
them.  There  are  a  number  of  erroneous  statements,  some 
of  them  to  be  partially  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  C.  are  cousins  (a  fact  which  I  did  not  know,  and  which 
Phinuit  did  not  ascertain)  ;  so  he  mixed  their  relatives  at 
the  second  sitting.  The  family  seems  to  be  a  very  large  one. 
I  quote  later  the  misstatements,  but  first  I  pick  out  the  correct 
ones  or  those  which  require  comment. 


Sitting  No-.  43.     Monday  evening,  December 

Present:  Dr.  and  Mrs.  C.  and  O.  J.  L.  [Statement  correct 
when  not  otherwise  noted.] 

"  How's  little  Daisy  ?  She  will  get  over  her  cold.  But  there's 
something  the  matter  with  her  head.  There's  somebody  round  you 
lame  and  somebody  hard  of  hearing.  That  little  girl  has  got  music 
in  her.  This  lady  is  fidgety.  There  are  four  of  you,  four  going  to 
stop  with  you,  one  gone  out  of  the  body.  One  got  irons  on  his  foot. 
Mrs.  Allen,  in  her  surroundings  is  the  one  with  iron  on  leg.  [Allen 
was  maiden  name  of  mother  of  lame  one.]  There's  about  400  of 
your  family.  There's  Kate;  you  call  her  Kitty.  She's  the  one 
that's  kind  of  a  crank.  Trustworthy,  but  cranky.  She  will  fly  off 
and  get  married,  she  will.  Thinks  she  knows  everything,  she  does. 
[This  is  the  nurse-girl,  Kitty,  about  whom  they  seem  to  have  a  joke 
that  she  is  a  walking  compendium  of  information.]  (An  envelope 
with  letters  written  inside,  N  —  H  —  P  —  O  —  Q,  was  here  handed  in, 
and  Phinuit  wrote  down  B  —  J  —  R  —  O  —  I  —  S,  not  in  the  best  of 
tempers.)  A  second  cousin  of  your  mother's  drinks.  The  little 
dark-eyed  one  is  Daisy.  I  like  her.  She  can't  hear  very  well.  The 
lame  one  is  a  sister's  child.  [A  cousin's  child,  the  one  nee  Allen, 
really.]  The  one  that's  deaf  in  her  head  is  the  one  that's  got  the 
music  in  her.  That's  Daisy,  and  she's  going  to  have  the  paints  I 
told  you  of.  [Fond  of  painting.]  She's  growing  up  to  be  a  beau- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      219 

tiful  woman.  She  ought  to  have  a  paper  ear.  [An  artificial  drum 
had  been  contemplated.]  You  have  an  Aunt  Eliza.  There  are 
three  Maries,  Mary  the  mother,  Mary  the  mother,  Mary  the  mother. 
[Grandmother,  aunt,  and  granddaughter.]  Three  brothers  and  two 
sisters  your  lady  has.  Three  in  the  body.  There  were  eleven  in 
your  family,  twTo  passed  out  small.  [Only  know  of  nine.]  Fred 
is  going  to  pass  out  suddenly.  He  married  a  cousin.  He  writes. 
He  has  shining  things.  Lorgnettes.  He  is  away.  He's  got  a  catchy 
trouble  with  heart  and  kidneys,  and  will  pass  out  suddenly.  [Not 
the  least  likely.  I  have  inquired  and  find  that  the  "  Fred  "  supposed 
to  be  intended  is  still  alive  in  1909.  O.  J.  L.] 

NOTE. —  The  most  striking  part  of  this  sitting  is  the 
prominence  given  to  Dr.  C.'s  favourite  little  daughter, 
Daisy,  a  child  very  intelligent  and  of  a  very  sweet  disposi- 
tion, but  quite  deaf;  although  her  training  enables  her  to 
go  to  school  and  receive  ordinary  lessons  with  other  children. 
At  the  first  sitting  she  is  supposed  erroneously  to  be  lame, 
but  at  the  second  sitting  this  is  corrected  and  explained,  and 
all  said  about  her  is  practically  correct,  including  the  cold 
she  then  had.  Mrs.  Piper  had  had  no  opportunity  what- 
ever of  knowing  or  hearing  of  the  C.  children  by  ordinary 
social  means.  We  barely  know  them  ourselves.  Phinuit 
grasped  the  child's  name  gradually,  using  it  at  first  as  a 
mere  description.  I  did  not  know  it  myself.  Dr.  Phinuit 
is  lavish  with  predictions,  such  as  the  one  at  the  end,  which 
frequently,  I  think  usually,  fail.  I  deeply  regret  to  say 
that  his  predictions  regarding  Daisy  are  likewise  false,  for 
she  caught  the  influenza,  and  the  announcement  of  her  death 
is  in  to-day's  paper. —  June,  1890. 

A  list  of  particulars  like  this  makes  very  dull  reading,  but 
evidentially  it  is  as  good  as  can  be.  No  possible  normal 
means  can  be  suggested  by  which  these  things  were  obtained, 
nor  was  there  any  fishing  or  guidance  by  the  sitter. 

The  only  normal  explanation  is  that  they  were  hit  upon 
by  chance,  but  that  is  perfectly  absurd,  as  any  one  will  realise 
who  will  go  through  these  incidents  and  try  to  apply  them  to 


220  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

himself  or  to  any  friend  known  to  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
they  do  not  apply,  and  cannot  apply  in  their  entirety,  to  any- 
body but  the  person  for  whom  they  were  intended. 

Of  course  this  is  by  no  means  a  solitary  instance  of  the 
detection  of  appropriate  family  details,  and  perhaps  it  is  not 
so  striking  as  some  others,  but  it  is  a  sound  instance  that  came 
directly  within  my  own  observation. 

The  doctor  himself  was  characteristically  sceptical  about 
the  whole  thing,  but  permits  me  to  append  the  following  note 
of  his  on  the  case,  written  some  time  later: — 

"  The  trance  state  seemed  natural ;  but  had  more  volun- 
tary movement  than  I  had  ever  seen  in  an  epileptic  attack. 
The  entire  change  in  Mrs.  Piper's  manner  and  behaviour  is 
unlike  an  intentional  effort,  and  it  is  possible  she  herself  be- 
lieves that  the  conditions  mean  something  outside  of  her- 
self. With  regard  to  the  result,  the  misses  seem  to  balance 
the  hits,  and  the  '  reading '  is  not  so  impressive  as  the 
4  sitting.'  After  reading  over  your  notes  I  think  they  con- 
sist of  a  certain  amount  of  thought-reading  and  a  large 
amount  of  skilful  guessing. 

I  find  myself  unable  to  agree  with  the  hasty  statement  that 
"  the  misses  balance  the  hits,"  since  even  numerically  they 
are  distinctly  fewer;  and  if  the  result  were  due  to  chance  they 
ought  to  be  out  of  all  comparison  fewer. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  false  assertions  made 
during  the  two  sittings : — 

At  first  sitting: — 

"Your  lady's  Fanny;  well,  there  is  a  Fanny.  [No.]  Fred  has 
light  hair,  brownish  moustache,  prominent  nose.  [No.]  Your  thesis 
was  some  special  thing.  I  should  say  about  lungs."  [No.] 

At  second  sitting: — 

"  Your  mother's  name  was  Elizabeth.  [No.]  Her  father's  lame. 
[No.]  Of  your  children  there's  Eddie  and  Willie  and  Fannie  or 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS     221 

Annie  and  a  sister  that  faints,  and  Willie  and  Katie  (no,  Katie  don't 
count)  [being  the  nurse],  and  Harry  and  the  little  dark-eyed  one, 
Daisy.  [All  wrong  except  Daisy.]  One  passed  out  with  sore 
throat.  [No.]  The  boy  looks  about  eight.  [No,  four.]  Your 
wife's  father  had  something  wrong  with  leg;  one  named  William. 
[No.]  Your  grandmother  had  a  sister  who  married  a  Howe  — 
Henry  Howe.  [Unknown.]  There's  a  Thomson  connected  with 
you  [no],  and  if  you  look  you  will  find  a  Howe  too.  Your  brother 
the  captain  [correct],  with  a  lovely  wife,  who  has  brown  hair  [cor- 
rect], has  had  trouble  in  head  [no],  and  has  two  girls  and  a  boy." 
[No,  three  girls.] 


As  another  instance  of  the  disentangling  of  the  relatives 
of  a  stranger,  I  take  the  case  of  a  shorthand  clerk  whom  I 
had  borrowed  once  or  twice  from  the  College  Registrar  to 
take  down  what  was  said  verbatim.  He  sat  at  a  distance 
taking  notes,  but  Phinuit  presently  began  to  refer  to  him, 
told  him  that  his  brother  had  had  a  tooth  out  (which  was 
true)  and  told  him  to  inquire  about  a  George  Edward  H. 
who  had  hurt  his  hand  at  a  party,  but  who  has  not  been  rec- 
ognised. Then  he  said  — 

"  There  seems  to  be  some  of  that  fellow's  friends  about  here  whom 
I  can't  avoid.  There's  a  lot,  and  I  can't  get  things  straight.  You 
will  have  to  let  me  talk  to  him  and  get  all  his  influence,  and  then  I 
will  talk  to  the  rest  of  you.  I  can't  help  it.  Get  out.  You  don't 
mind  me,  do  you  ?  " 

[Exeunt  O.  J.  L.,  A.  L.,  and  M.  L.] 

(Clerk  now  came  and  took  one  hand,  taking  brief  notes  with  the 
other.) 

"  Your  relations  make  me  get  mixed ;  they  refuse  me  when  I'm 
talking  to  the  Captain,  so  if  I  mention  anyone  belonging  to  you  you 
must  tell  me,  that  we  may  keep  things  straight.  There's  an  old  lady 
in  the  spirit  talking  to  me,  and  her  influence*  disturbs  me.  [Grand- 


222  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

mother  died  a  few  years  ago.]  Ask  your  brother  if  he  don't  know 
those  people  at  party,  and  that  fellow  who  hurt  his  hand,  George 
Edward  H.,  and  he's  got  a  brother  Fred.  You  have  a  cousin  Char- 
ley [true]  that  stops  in  your  home  [no,  his  brother  used  to],  and  a 
cousin  named  Harry.  [True.]  There  are  six  in  your  family,  four 
boys  and  two  girls.  [Correct.]  The  sister  is  Minnie.  [Correct.] 
She  is  cranky,  stupid  sometimes  [true],  but  she  will  grow  out  of 
that.  Your  mother  has  a  pain  in  her  head  sometimes.  [No.]  Min- 
nie is  musical.  [Not  particularly.]  One  brother  writes  a  great 
deal.  [I  do  myself.]  Your  name  is  Ed.  [Correct.]  Your  grand- 
mother keeps  calling  Ed.  You  ask  about  those  people  I  told  you  of, 
and  you  will  find  it's  true.  [Have  made  diligent  inquiries  ineffectu- 
ally.] I  want  the  Captain.  See  you,  Captain,  that  fellow's  straight. 
Now,  then,  Alfred  and  Marie.  Got  straightened  out  a  little  bit? 
That's  all  right.  Here,  Alfred,  I've  got  to  talk  to  you.  All  the 
rest  skip."  ["  Captain  "  was  the  nickname  by  which  Phinuit  usually 
addressed  O.  J.  L.] 


As  an  instance  of  reading  a  letter,  which  had  indeed  passed 
through  my  mind  in  the  way  recorded,  but  which  was  not 
read  in  any  normal  manner  by  the  medium,  I  take  the  follow- 
ing case : — 

(A  chain  was  handed  to  Phinuit  by  O.  J.  L.,  the  package  having 
been  delivered  by  hand  to  O.  J.  L.  late  the  previous  evening.  He 
had  just  opened  the  package,  glanced  at  the  contents,  and  hastily  read 
a  letter  inside,  then  wrapped  all  up  again  and  stored  them.  The 
chain  had  been  sent  by  Mrs.  John  Watson  from  Sefton  Drive;  it  had 
belonged  to  Dr.  Watson's  father.) 

"  This  belongs  to  an  old  gentleman  that  passed  out  of  the  body  — 
a  nice  old  man.  I  see  something  funny  here,  something  the  matter 
with  heart,  paralytic  something.  Give  me  the  wrappers,  all  of  them." 
[i.  e.,  The  paper  it  came  in ;  a  letter  among  them.  Medium  held 
them  to  top  of  her  head,  gradually  flicking  away  the  blank  ones.  She 
did  not  inspect  them.  She  was  all  the  while  holding  with  her  other 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS       223 

hand  another  stranger,  a  Mr.  Lund,  who  knew  nothing  whatever 
about  the  letter  or  the  chain.] 

"  Who's  dear  Lodge?  Who's  Poole,  Toodle,  Poodle?  Whatever 
does  that  mean  ?  " 

O.  J.  L. :     "I  haven't  the  least  idea." 

"Is  there  J.  N.  W.  here?     Poole.     Then  there's  Sefton.     S-e-f- 
t-o-n.     Pool,  hair.     Yours  truly,  J.  N.  W.     That's  it ;  I  send  hair. 
Poole.     J.  N.  W.     Do  you  understand  that?  " 
O.J.L.:     "  No,  only  partially." 

"Who's  Mildred,  Milly?  something  connected  with  it,  and  Alice; 

and  with  him,  too,  I  get  Fanny.     There's  his  son's  influence  on  it." 

[Note  by  O.  J.  L. —  I    found   afterwards   that  the   letter  began 

"  Dear  Dr.  Lodge,"  contained  the  words  "  Sefton  Drive,"  and 

"  Cook  "  so  written  as  to  look  like  Poole.     It  also  said:     "  I 

send  you  some  hair,"  and  finished  "  yours  sincerely,  J.  B.  W." ; 

the  "  B  "  being  not  unlike  an  "  N."     The  name  of  the  sender 

was  not  mentioned  in  the  letter,  but  at  a  subsequent  sitting 

it  was  correctly  stated   by   Phinuit   in   connection   with   the 

chain.] 

This  reading  of  letters  in  an  abnormal  way  is  very  curious, 
and  is  a  very  old  type  of  phenomenon.  Kant  and  Hegel 
were  both  familiar  with  it :  only  it  was  then  called  "  reading 
with  the  pit  of  the  stomach."  Now  it  seems  usually  done 
with  the  top  of  the  head. 

I  had  a  few  other  cases  —  less  distinct  than  the  above  — 
and  I  again  refer  here  to  the  little  experiment  made  by  Mrs. 
Verrall  as  reported  on  page  128. 

One  of  the  best  sitters  was  a  friend  who  for  several  years 
was  my  next-door  neighbour  at  Liverpool,  Isaac  C.  Thomp- 
son, F.L.S.,  to  whose  name  indeed,  before  he  had  been  in 
any  way  introduced,  Phinuit  sent  a  message  purporting  to 
come  from  his  father.  Three  generations  of  his  and  of  his 


224  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

wife's  family,  living  and  dead  (small  and  compact  Quaker 
families),  were,  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  sittings,  con- 
spicuously mentioned,  with  identifying  detail;  the  main  infor- 
mant representing  himself  as  his  deceased  brother,  a  young 
Edinburgh  doctor,  whose  loss  had  been  mourned  some 
twenty  years  ago.  The  familiarity  and  touchingness  of  the 
messages  communicated  in  this  particular  instance  were  very 
remarkable,  and  can  by  no  means  be  reproduced  in  any 
printed  report  of  the  sitting.  Their  case  is  one  in  which 
very  few  mistakes  were  made,  the  details  standing  out  vividly 
correct,  so  that  in  fact  they  found  it  impossible  not  to  be- 
lieve that  their  relatives  were  actually  speaking  to  them. 
This  may  sound  absurd,  but  it  correctly  represents  the  im- 
pression produced  by  a  favourable  series  of  sittings,  and  it 
is  for  that  reason  I  mention  it  now.  Simple  events  occurring 
elsewhere  during  the  sitting  were  also  detected  by  Dr. 
Phinuit  in  their  case,  better  than  in  any  other  I  know  of. 
A  full  report  of  this  rather  excellent  case  has  had  to  be 
omitted  for  lack  of  space. 

There  was  a  remarkable  little  incident  towards  the  end 
of  my  series  of  sittings,  when  this  friend  of  mine  was  pres- 
ent. A  message  interpolated  itself  to  a  gentleman  living  in 
Liverpool,  known,  but  not  at  all  intimately  known,  to  both 
of  us,  and  certainly  outside  of  our  thoughts  —  the  head  of 
the  Liverpool  Post-office,  Mr.  Rich.  The  message  pur- 
ported to  be  from  a  son  of  his  who  had  died  suddenly  a  few 
months  ago,  and  whom  I  had  never  seen;  though  Isaac 
Thompson  had,  it  seems,  once  or  twice  spoken  to  him. 

This  son  addressed  I.  G.  T.  by  name  and  besought  him  to 
convey  a  message  to  his  father,  who,  he  said,  was  much 
stricken  by  the  blow,  and  who  was  suffering  from  a  recent 
occasional  dizziness  in  his  head,  so  that  he  felt  afraid  he 
should  have  to  retire  from  business.  Other  little  things  were 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      225 

mentioned  of  an  identifying  character;  and  the  message  was, 
a  few  days  later  duly  conveyed.  The  facts  stated  were  ad- 
mitted to  be  accurate;  and  the  father,  though  naturally  in- 
clined to  be  sceptical,  confessed  that  he  had  indeed  been  more 
than  ordinarily  troubled  at  the  sudden  death  of  his  eldest 
son,  because  of  a  recent  unfortunate  estrangement  between 
them  which  would  otherwise  have  been  only  temporary. 

The  only  thought-transference  explanation  I  can  reason- 
ably offer  him  is  that  it  was  the  distant  activity  of  his  own 
mind,  operating  on  the  sensitive  brain  of  the  medium,  of 
whose  existence  he  knew  absolutely  nothing,  and  contriving 
to  send  a  delusive  message  to  itself! 

One  thing  about  which  the  son  seemed  anxious  was  a 
certain  black  case  which  he  asked  us  to  speak  to  his  father 
about,  and  to  say  he  did  not  want  lost.  The  father  did  not 
know  what  case  was  meant:  but  I  have  heard  since,  indi- 
rectly, that  on  his  death-bed  the  son  was  calling  out  about 
a  black  case,  though  I  cannot  learn  that  the  particular  case 
has  been  securely  identified. 

Contemplating  these  and  such-like  communications,  I  could 
not  help  feeling  that  if  it  be  really  a  case  of  thought-trans- 
ference at  all,  it  is  thought-transference  of  a  surprisingly 
vivid  kind,  the  proof  of  which  would  be  very  valuable,  sup- 
posing it  were  the  correct  explanation  of  the  phenomenon. 

But  I  felt  doubtful  if  it  were  the  correct  explanation. 
One  must  not  shut  one's  eyes  to  the  possibility  that  in  pursu- 
ing a  favourite  hypothesis  one  may  after  all  be  on  the  wrong 
tack  altogether. 

Every  known  agency  must  be  worked  to  the  utmost  before 
one  is  willing  to  admit  an  unknown  one :  and  indeed  to  aban- 
don this  last  known  link  of  causation  as  inadequate  to  sustain 
the  growing  weight  of  facts  was  an  operation  not  to  be  lightly 
undertaken.  And  yet  I  felt  grave  doubts  whether  it  would 
really  suffice  to  explain  the  facts ;  whether  indeed  it  went  any 
distance  toward  their  explanation. 


226  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

Things  were  sometimes  told  to  me  and  to  others  so  en- 
tirely foreign  to  our  conscious  thought  that  at  first  they  were 
not  recognised  as  true  or  intelligible,  and  only  gradually  or 
by  subsequent  explanation  was  the  meaning  clearly  perceived. 
But  something  of  the  same  experience  is  gone  through  in 
dreams;  one  sometimes  feels  surprised  at  the  turn  a  dream 
conversation  is  taking,  and  has  the  feeling  also  occasionally 
of  learning  something  new.  Hence  this  argument  is  not  of 
much  strength  taken  alone. 

Another  argument  bases  itself  on  the  mistakes  which  Dr. 
Phinuit  sometimes  unaccountably  made.  One  noteworthy 
instance  is  called  attention  to  by  one  of  my  sitters,  whose 
father,  in  the  midst  of  much  that  was  correct  and  striking, 
was  reported  as  saying  that  his  name  was  John.  Now  his 
son,  the  sitter,  was  vividly  conscious  that  his  deceased  fa- 
ther's name  was  not  John,  but  was  Peter.  No  knowledge  of 
this,  however,  was  shown  by  Phinuit;  though,  by  subse- 
quently several  times  quoting  the  name  as  Thomas,  he  seemed 
to  show  consciousness  that  there  had  been  an  error  some- 
where. 

The  only  explanation  of  this  that  I  can  suggest,  beyond 
mere  bungle  and  error,  is  that  /  was  in  the  room  also  taking 
notes,  and  though  I  of  course  knew  the  surname,  I  was  quite 
ignorant  of  the  Christian  name. 

Undoubtedly  therefore  the  hypothesis  of  thought-trans- 
ference has  to  be  wriggled  and  stretched  a  little ;  though  we 
may  be  willing  to  stretch  it  to  any  required  length,  so  long 
as  it  does  not  actually  snap.  But  feeling  that  it  did  not  really 
commend  itself,  I  endeavoured  to  apply  some  crucial  tests 

And  the  first  was  a  few  children's  alphabet  letters,  pinched 
up  at  random,  put  in  a  pill  box  without  looking,  and  sealed 
by  me  in  the  presence  of  Prof.  Carey  Foster  a  month  or  so 
previously.  This  box  I  now  handed  to  "  Phinuit  "  and 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS       227 

asked  him  what  was  inside  it,  telling  him  at  the  same  time 
that  no  one  knew,  and  requesting  him  to  do  his  best. 

He  immediately  asked  for  a  pencil,  and  holding  the  box 
to  Mrs.  Piper's  forehead,  shaking  it  a  little  at  intervals,  as 
if  to  disentangle  the  contents  and  bring  them  more  clearly 
before  him,  he  wrote  down  some  letters  on  a  bit  of  cardboard 
held  for  him. 

I  thanked  him,  and  next  morning  for  better  security, 
asked  him  to  try  again.  He  did,  and  wrote  down  just  the 
same  letters,  even  to  the  extent  of  saying  which  way  they 
happened  to  face  in  the  box. 

I  wrote  two  accounts  of  the  contents  of  the  box,  one  to 
Mr.  Myers  and  one  to  Prof.  Carey  Foster,  under  seal,  tele- 
graphing to  him  to  know  if  he  were  at  home  and  ready  to 
receive  the  box,  assure  himself  that  it  had  not  beeen  tampered 
with  (though  indeed  it  had  not  been  out  of  my  possession 
all  the  time),  and  then  to  open  it  and  write  out  the  letters 
and  their  aspects,  in  full  detail,  before  opening  my  sealed 
account.  He  replied,  "  Yes,"  and  I  sent  him  the  box  regis- 
tered and  insured. 

All  the  letters  were  wrong  but  two :  though  as  it  happens 
the  number  of  letters  were  nearly  correct. 

According  to  chance,  if  they  had  been  pinched  from  a 
single  alphabet,  two  should  have  been  guessed  right.  The 
box  from  which  they  had  been  pinched  contained  many 
alphabets,  but  practically  the  conclusion  of  the  experiment 
was  utterly  negative.  The  letters  had  not  been  read. 
(Proc.  S.  P.  R.,  vi.,  494.) 

This  experiment  inclined  me  strongly  to  some  thought- 
transference  explanation,  as  distinct  from  what  seemed  to  me 
the  more  unknown  and  vague  region  of  clairvoyance. 

If  the  letters  themselves  could  be  really  directly  perceived, 
the  fact  that  they  existed  in  nobody's  mind  could  not  mat- 
ter. But  if  minds  only  could  be  read,  then  it  was  essential 
that  someone  somewhere  should  be  cognisant  of  the  letters. 
I  do  not  mean  that  it  would  do  to  base  so  clear  a  conclusion 
on  the  result  of  one  negative  experiment.  It  is  an  experi- 


228  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

ment  which  I  want  to  repeat, —  though  Phinuit  doesn't  much 
care  for  this  kind  of  thing  and  says  it  strains  him, —  but  it 
seemed  to  me  to  strengthen  the  hypothesis  of  thought-trans- 
ference from  some  mind  or  other.  So  I  set  to  work  to  try 
and  obtain,  by  the  regular  process  of  communication  which 
suits  this  particular  medium,  facts  which  were  not  only  out  of 
my  knowledge  but  which  never  could  have  been  in  it. 

In  giving  an  account  of  these  experiments,  fully  reported 
at  the  time,  though  now  some  20  years  old,  I  must  enter  on 
a  few  trivial  details  concerning  my  own  relations.  The  oc- 
casion is  the  excuse. 

It  happened  that  an  uncle  of  mine  in  London,  then  quite 
an  old  man,  the  eldest  of  a  surviving  three  out  of  a  very 
large  family,  of  which  my  own  father  was  one  of  the 
youngest,  had  had  a  twin  brother  who  died  some  twenty  or 
more  years  ago.  I  interested  him  generally  in  the  subject, 
and  wrote  to  ask  if  he  would  lend  me  some  relic  of  this 
brother.  By  morning  post  on  a  certain  day  I  received  a 
curious  old  gold  watch,  which  the  deceased  brother  had  worn 
and  been  fond  of;  and  that  same  morning, —  no  one  in  the 
house  having  seen  it  or  knowing  anything  about  it, —  I 
handed  it  to  Mrs.  Piper  when  in  a  state  of  trance. 

I  was  told  almost  immediately  that  it  had  belonged  to 
one  of  my  uncles  —  one  that  had  been  mentioned  before  as 
having  died  from  the  effects  of  a  fall  —  one  that  had  been 
very  fond  of  Uncle  Robert,  the  name  of  the  survivor  —  that 
the  watch  was  now  in  the  possession  of  this  same  Uncle 
Robert,  with  whom  its  late  owner  was  anxious  to  communi- 
cate. After  some  difficulty  and  many  wrong  attempts  Dr. 
Phinuit  caught  the  name,  Jerry,  short  for  Jeremiah,  and 
said  emphatically,  as  if  impersonating  him,  "  This  is  my 
watch,  and  Robert  is  my  brother,  and  I  am  here.  Uncle 
Jerry,  my  watch."  All  this  at  the  first  sitting  on  the  very 
morning  the  watch  had  arrived  by  post,  no  one  but 
myself  and  a  shorthand  clerk  who  happened  to  have  been 
introduced  for  the  first  time  at  this  sitting  by  me,  and 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS       229 

whose   antecedents   are  well  known  to  me,   being  present. 

Having  thus  ostensibly  got  into  communication  through 
some  means  or  other  with  what  purported  to  be  Uncle  Jerry, 
whom  I  had  indeed  known  slightly  in  his  later  years  of 
blindness,  but  of  whose  early  life  I  knew  nothing,  I  pointed 
out  to  him  that  to  make  Uncle  Robert  aware  of  his  presence 
it  would  be  well  to  recall  trivial  details  of  their  boyhood,  all 
of  which  I  would  faithfully  report. 

He  quite  caught  the  idea,  and  proceeded  during  several 
successive  sittings  ostensibly  to  instruct  Dr.  Phinuit  to  men- 
tion a  number  of  little  things  such  as  would  enable  his 
brother  to  recognise  him. 

References  to  his  blindness,  illness,  and  main  facts  of  his 
life  were  comparatively  useless  from  my  point  of  view;  but 
these  details  of  boyhood,  two-thirds  of  a  century  ago,  were 
utterly  and  entirely  out  of  my  ken.  My  father  himself  had 
only  known  these  brothers  as  men. 

"  Uncle  Jerry  "  recalled  episodes  such  as  swimming  the 
creek  when  they  were  boys  together,  and  running  some  risk 
of  getting  drowned;  killing  a  cat  in  Smith's  field;  the  posses- 
sion of  a  small  rifle,  and  of  a  long  peculiar  skin,  like  a 
snake-skin,  which  he  thought  was  now  in  the  possession  of 
Uncle  Robert. 

All  these  facts  have  been  more  or  less  completely  verified. 
But  the  interesting  thing  is  that  his  twin  brother,  from  whom 
I  got  the  watch  and  with  whom  I  was  thus  in  correspond- 
ence, could  not  remember  them  all.  He  recollected  some- 
thing about  swimming  the  creek,  though  he  himself  had 
merely  looked  on.  He  had  a  distinct  recollection  of  hav- 
ing had  the  snake-skin,  and  of  the  box  in  which  it  was  kept, 
though  he  did  not  know  where  it  was  then.  But  he  alto- 
gether denied  killing  the  cat,  and  could  not  recall  Smith's 
field. 

His  memory,  however,  was  decidedly  failing  him,  and  he 
was  good  enough  to  write  to  another  brother,  Frank,  living 
in  Cornwall,  an  old  sea  captain,  and  ask  if  he  had  any  better 
remembrance  of  certain  facts  —  of  course  not  giving  any 
inexplicable  reasons  for  asking.  The  result  of  this  inquiry 
was  triumphantly  to  vindicate  the  existence  of  Smith's  field 


230  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

as  a  place  near  their  home,  where  they  used  to  play,  in 
Barking,  Essex;  and  the  killing  of  a  cat  by  another  brother 
was  also  recollected;  while  of  the  swimming  of  the  creek, 
near  a  mill-race,  full  details  were  given,  Frank  and  Jerry 
being  the  heroes  of  that  foolhardy  episode. 

I  may  say  here  that  Dr.  Phinuit  has  a  keen  "  scent " — 
shall  I  call  it?  —  for  trinkets  or  personal  valuables  of  all 
kinds.  He  recognised  a  ring  which  my  wife  wears  as  hav- 
ing been  given  "  to  me  for  her  "  by  a  specified  aunt  just  be- 
fore her  death;  of  which  he  at  another  time  indicated  the 
cause  fairly  well.  He  called  for  a  locket  which  my  wife 
sometimes  wears,  but  had  not  then  on,  which  had  belonged 
to  her  father  40  years  ago.  He  recognised  my  father's 
watch,  asked  for  the  chain  belonging  to  it,  and  was  still  un- 
satisfied for  want  of  some  appendage  which  I  could  not  think 
of  at  the  time,  but  which  my  wife  later  on  reminded  me  of, 
and  Phinuit  at  another  sitting  seized, —  a  seal  which  had  been 
usually  worn  with  it,  and  which  had  belonged  to  my  grand- 
father. 

He  pulled  my  sister's  watch  out  of  her  pocket  and  said 
it  had  been  her  mother's,  but  disconnected  the  chain  and 
said  that  didn't  belong,  which  was  quite  right.  Even  little 
pocket  things,  such  as  fruit-knives  and  corkscrews,  he  also 
assigned  to  their  late  owners;  and  once  he  quite  unexpectedly 
gripped  the  arm  of  the  chair  Mrs.  Piper  was  sitting  in,  which 
had  never  been  mentioned  to  him  in  any  way,  and  said 
that  it  had  belonged  to  my  Aunt  Anne.  It  was  quite  true : 
it  was  an  old-fashioned  ordinary  type  of  armchair  which 
she  valued  and  had  had  re-upholstered  for  us  as  a  wedding 
present  12  years  ago.  Phinuit,  by  the  way,  did  not  seem  to 
realise  that  it  was  a  chair:  he  asked  what  it  was  and  said  he 
took  it  for  part  of  an  organ. 

But  perhaps  the  best  instance  of  a  recognised  object  was 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS       231 

one  entrusted  to  me  by  the  Rev.  John  Watson,  at  that  time 
quite  a  recent  friend  of  mine,  with  whom  I  had  been  stay- 
ing recently  in  Italy, —  a  chain  which  had  belonged  to  his  fa- 
ther. It  is  the  chain  referred  to  in  connexion  with  the  episode 
of  reading  a  letter  related  on  page  222  above. 

The  package  was  delivered  by  hand  one  evening  at  my 
house,  and,  by  good  luck,  I  happened  to  meet  the  ^messenger 
and  receive  it  direct.  Next  morning  I  handed  it  to  Dr. 
Phinuit,  saying  only,  in  response  to  his  feeling  some  diffi- 
culty about  it,  that  it  did  not  belong  to  a  relative.  He  said 
it  belonged  to  an  old  man  and  had  his  son's  influence  on  it. 
He  also  partially  read  a  letter  accompanying  it  —  as  de- 
scribed on  page  222.  Next  sitting  I  tried  the  chain  again, 
and  he  very  soon  reported  the  late  owner  as  present,  and  rec- 
ognising the  chain,  but  not  recognising  me.  I  explained  that 
his  son  had  entrusted  me  with  it;  on  which  Phinuit  said  the 
chain  belonged  now  to  John  Watson,  away  for  health,  a 
preacher,  and  a  lot  of  other  details  all  known  to  me,  and  all 
correct.  The  old  gentleman  was  then  represented  as  willing 
to  write  his  name.  A  name  was  written  in  the  backward 
manner  Phinuit  sometimes  affects.  It  was  legible  afterwards 
in  a  mirror  as  James  Watson.  Now,  the  name  of  his  father 
I  was  completely  ignorant  of. 

I  explained  to  the  communicator  that  his  son  desired  to 
hear  from  him,  and  asked  him  to  be  good  enough  to  prove 
his  identity. 

Whereupon,  at  intervals,  a  number  of  specific  though 
trivial  facts  were  mentioned.  They  were  frequently  ad- 
mitted to  be  trivial  in  an  apologetic  way,  but  nevertheless 
would  serve  as  good  evidence;  better  than  more  conspicuous 
ones  indeed.  I  took  them  down  as  well  as  I  could,  know- 
ing absolutely  nothing  of  the  correctness  or  incorrectness  of 
most  of  them.  Such  facts  as  I  did  know  were  nearly  all 


232  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

correct.  Hence  I  had  good  hopes  of  another  crucial  test 
here. 

If  what  I  knew  was  stated  correctly,  while  all  those  things 
which  I  did  not  know  should  turn  out  inaccurate  or  false,  I 
should  be  forcibly  impelled  towards  a  direct  thought-trans- 
ference explanation  for  this  entire  set.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  these  things  of  which  I  had  absolutely  never  heard 
or  dreamt  should  turn  out  true,  then  some  further  step 
must  be  taken. 

Unfortunately  the  result  is  not  so  simple  and  crucial  as 
I  had  expected  it  to  be.  A  stranger  always  encounters  some 
difficulty  in  getting  at  facts.  The  father's  name  turned  out 
to  be  not  James  but  John  —  the  same  as  that  of  the  son :  and 
although  the  facts  stated  concerning  the  son,  my  friend,  were 
practically  all  correct,  I  learned  three  weeks  later,  when  I 
got  a  reply  from  Egypt  where  he  was  travelling,  that  the 
statements  about  the  father  were  all  wrong.  Thus  then 
they  become  valueless,  except  as  strengthening  the  evidence 
for  thought-transference  from  myself;  for  it  was  the  facts  of 
which  I  was  ignorant  that  were  wrong.  But  Dr.  Watson 
told  me  later  that  James  was  the  name  of  his  grandfather, 
and  that  the  statements  would  have  a  truer  ring  if  they  had 
purported  to  come  from  the  grandfather  instead  of  from 
the  father.  And  I  understood  that  the  chain  —  which  was 
the  ostensible  link  of  connexion  —  had  belonged  to  both. 

/ 
PERCEPTION  OF  EVENTS  AT  A  DISTANCE 

As  an  instance  of  the  perception  of  things  happening  at  a 
distance,  I  take  the  case  of  what  may  be  called  "  Charley  and 
the  bird."  This  insignificant  episode  was  in  nobody's  mind 
or  knowledge  in  this  country.  It  had  happened  in  Canada 
during  the  time  that  Mrs.  Piper  was  in  England,  and  its  oc- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      233 

currence  was  only  ascertained  by  subsequent  special  inquiry. 
The  message  purported  to  come  from  my  deceased  Aunt 
Anne,  of  whom  this  "  Charley,"  living  in  Canada,  was  the 
adopted  son. 

She  said  that  she  was  very  sorry  that  Charley  ate  the  bird  —  the 
chicken  —  and  made  himself  sick.  He  has  had  a  trouble  with  his 
stomach.  Her  Charley.  And  he  has  been  troubled  for  some  little 
time.  The  bird  made  him  sick.  Some  kind  of  bird.  Quite  sick. 
It  troubled  him  a  good  deal.  You  write  and  ask  him.  But  it  is  so. 
You  will  find  it  was.  He  will  tell  you.  [This  message  was  re- 
ceived on  26  Dec.,  1889.] 

Sequel  added  September,  1890. —  Concerning  the  episode  recorded 
above:  I  wrote  to  a  cousin  who  had  emigrated  last  October  to  join 
her  brother  (the  "  Charley"  referred  to)  in  Manitoba,  asking  her  if 
he  had  eaten  any  particular  bird  about  Christmas  time  which  had 
disagreed  with  him.  Only  recently  have  I  got  full  information  on 
the  subject,  the  unsportsmanlike  character  of  the  act  possibly,  but 
more  likely  the  difficulty  of  realising  any  sense  in  the  inquiry,  being 
responsible  for  some  of  the  delay.  The  evidence  now  obtained  is  as 
follows :  — 

"  The  boys  shot  a  prairie  hen  as  they  were  coming  home  one 
night,  near  the  beginning  of  December,  out  of  season,  when  there 
was  a  fine  for  killing  these  birds.  So  we  had  to  hide  it.  It  was 
hung  for  about  a  fortnight,  and  a  few  days  before  Christmas  we  ate 
it,  Charley  eating  most.  The  bird  didn't  make  him  ill,  but  he  was 
ill  at  the  time,  having  the  grippe.  He  went  to  town  either  that 
night  or  next  day,  and  was  certainly  worse  when  he  returned." 

Another  instance  of  perception  of  an  event  happening  at 
a  distance  occurred  as  the  result  of  an  experiment  which  my 
friend  Mr.  Conner  had  arranged  at  an  early  sitting.  He 
had  combined  with  his  sister  in  London  to  coax  their  mother 
into  doing  something  at  a  certain  hour  on  a  certain  day,  un- 
usual for  reasons  to  be  afterwards  explained.  We  found 


234  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

afterwards  that  the  selection  of  an  unusual  proceeding  con- 
sisted in  driving  round  Regent's  Park  in  a  hansom  cab  in 
the  wet.  And  this,  is  what  she  was  doing  during  the  time 
her  son  was  sitting  at  Liverpool,  while  the  medium  held 
a  little  book  of  hers.  He  had  carefully  not  arranged  or 
suggested  anything  as  a  suitable  proceeding,  but  he  had  a 
presentiment  that  some  not  very  striking  occurrence  would 
probably  be  deemed  sufficient.  It  is  impossible  to  say  that 
the  idea  of  a  possible  outdoor  excursion  may  not  have  been 
latent  in  his  mind. 

We  were  completely  ignorant  of  what  was  going  on  in 
London,  but  Dr.  Phinuit  described  the  surroundings  of  this 
lady  and  a  younger  lady  who  was  with  her  —  described 
her  as  being  over-persuaded  to  go  out,  though  she  didn't  want 
to,  and  as  going  clearly  through  the  operation  of  outdoor 
dressing:  several  minute  actions,  such  as  opening  a  box,  tak- 
ing up  a  photograph  from  dressing-table  to  look  at,  and  so 
on,  being  mentioned  correctly.  But  there  it  stopped.  We 
did  not  get  to  Regent's  Park  and  the  cab,  though  that  was 
the  stage  reached  while  he  was  speaking,  but  Phinuit  stopped 
short  at  the  stage  reached  just  about  when  the  sitting  began ; 
though  he  spoke  as  if  he  was  describing  the  present  moment. 
More  experiments  of  this  nature  are  wanted,  and  very  likely 
have  been  made  by  others.  I  do  not  pretend  that  this  ex- 
periment by  itself  is  conclusive,  but  it  is  useful  as  far  as  it 
goes. 

It  was  a  carefully  arranged  experiment,  planned  by  myself  and 
Mr.  Conner  together  in  Liverpool,  and  carried  out  in  a  satisfactory 
manner  through  the  kind  aid  of  his  relations  in  London.  The  prob- 
lem was  to  remove  thought-transference  to  as  many  orders  of  remote- 
ness as  possible.  He  therefore  wrote  to  his  sister,  Miss  Conner,  giv- 
ing her  full  particulars  of  what  was  wanted.  Their  mother  was  to  be 
requested  to  decide  on  and  do  something  uncommon  at  a  specified  hour 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      235 

without  letting  Miss  Conner  know  what  it  was;  neither  was  she  to 
have  any  inkling  whatever  as  to  a  reason  for  the  request,  nor  to  know 
that  it  was  connected  with  her  son.  I  find  that  all  this  was  scrupu- 
lously done.  With  the  aid  of  Miss  Ledlie  (the  lady  correctly  de- 
scribed and  named  as  "Annie"  by  Phinuit),  who  likewise  knew 
nothing  whatever  as  to  reasons,  the  mother  was  prevailed  upon  to 
accede  to  the  request;  and  she  accordingly  decided  to  go  out  under 
perfectly  unlikely  circumstances,  accompanied  by  Miss  Ledlie,  both 
ladies  being  very  much  puzzled  to  account  for  the  singular  and  vague 
request  on  the  part  of  Miss  Conner.  The  latter  lady,  who  was  the 
only  one  of  the  trio  who  had  any  idea  of  the  reason,  purposely  ab- 
sented herself  from  the  house  before  any  decision  was  made  as  to  what 
should  be  done.  The  driving  round  the  park  on  a  wet  Saturday 
morning,  though  sufficiently  incongruous  to  astonish  even  the  cabman, 
wras  an  unfortunately  passive  kind  of  performance  to  select;  but  con- 
sidering the  absence  of  every  kind  of  information  or  clue  to  the  rea- 
son for  doing  anything,  the  wonder  is  that  anything  whatever  was 
done.  Miss  Ledlie  reports  that  after  Miss  Conner  had  left  the 
house  she  and  Mrs.  Conner  decided  what  to  do,  and  a  vehicle  was 
sent  for.  Just  about  n  she  ran  upstairs  to  see  if  Mrs.  Conner  was 
ready,  and  saw  her  come  out  of  her  room  to  a  landing  cupboard, 
take  a  box  out  of  it,  put  it  on  a  ledge,  open  it  and  take  out  a  muff, 
very  much  as  described  by  Phinuit  half  an  hour  later.  She  had  her 
cloak  and  things  on  then,  and  the  cloak  is  troublesome  to  hook,  so 
that  there  would  be  a  good  deal  of  apparently  fixing  things  round 
the  neck.  The  taking  up  and  looking  at  the  photograph  would  al- 
most certainly  be  done  before  going  out,  though  it  was  not  actually 
seen.  The  "  taking  up  a  pencil  to  write,"  and  the  "  brushing  some- 
thing," if  by  "  something  "  is  meant  a  garment,  are  unlikely  actions. 
Although  the  success  was  far  from  complete,  Phinuit  distinctly  left 
us  in  Liverpool  with  the  impression  that  "  going  out  "  was  the  thing 
selected  to  be  done. 

Present: — O.  J.  L.  as  recorder  and  Prof.  Conner  as  sitter. 
0.  /.  L.  "  Tell  him  about  his  mother  and  what  she's  doing  now. 
It's  very  important." 

Ha,  ha!     I'll  tell  you  why  it's  important,  because  he 


236  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

don't  know  it  himself.     I  read  your  thoughts  then.     I 
can't  generally. 

Your  mother  is  just  this  minute  fixing  her  hair,  put- 
ting a  thing  through  her  hair    (indicating)    in  a  room 
with  a  cot  in  it,  up  high.     Did  you  know  she  had  some 
trouble  with  her  head? 
Sitter.     "  No." 

Long  distance  between  you  and  your  mother,  separation 
between  you.  She's  in  another  place.  [Yes,  in  Lon- 
don.] .  .  .  She's  fixing  something  to  her  throat  and 
putting  on  a  wrap  here,  round  here,  and  now  she  has 
lifted  up  the  lid  of  a  box  on  a  stand  (11.30).  .  .  . 

There's  been  some  news,  some  correspondence  reached 
the  large  building  where  your  mother  is.  She  has  had 
a  cold.  A  young  lady  is  with  her,  and  I  should  think 
it's  her  daughter ;  a  very  nice  girl.  She  draws  somewhat, 
and  needlework  and  reads  a  great  deal,  a  pretty  girl  with 
light  hair  and  bluish  eyes.  She's  speaking  to  your 
mother  at  this  minute.  [This  is  all  practically  correct, 
except  the  relationship.] 
Sitter.  "  Is  her  hair  long  or  short? 

How  do  you  mean  ?  It's  fuzzy  light  hair.  She's  a  little 
pale,  sort  of  smiling;  nice  teeth.  Your  mother  is  going 
out.  Your  mother  had  trouble  in  leg,  kind  of  rheumatic. 
There's  a  young  lady,  not  Annie,  with  light  hair,  light 
complexion,  good  influence.  [This  is  the  daughter.] 

Thus  Phinuit  described  all  three  ladies  —  all  in  fact 
who  were  directly  or  indirectly  concerned  in  the  episode 
—  and  described  them  correctly.  Whatever  this  power 
is  due  to,  it  is  entirely  beyond  chance. 

The  following  are  part  of  Professor  Conner's  Notes : — 

Notes  by  the  sitter. —  In  preparation  for  the  interview 
I  had  written  and  asked  my  sister  to  persuade  my  mother 
to  do  something  that  was  unusual  for  her  between  the 
hours  of  ii  and  12  Saturday  morning;  and  to  observe 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      237 

what  she  did.  My  mother  was  not  to  know,  and  did 
not  know,  that  she  was  doing  this  at  my  request.  Sat- 
urday morning  at  a  few  minutes  before  u,  she  prepared 
herself  for  going  out  to  take  a  drive  in  a  hansom  cab, 
this  striking  her  as  an  unusual  procedure,  as  it  was  rain- 
ing. Such  preparation  involved  touching  the  head  in  the 
putting  on  of  her  bonnet,  of  her  neck  and  shoulders  when 
she  put  on  her  cloak.  Then  she  was  specially  observed 
to  take  her  muff  box  from  her  wardrobe,  to  place  it  on 
a  table,  lift  the  lid,  and  take  her  muff  out.  On  her 
dressing-table  there  stands  a  small  photograph  of  my 
father,  which  she  very  frequently  takes  up  and  looks  at 
intently.  Whether  she  did  this  on  the  occasion  in  ques- 
tion cannot  be  ascertained,  as  it  is  one  of  those  ordinary 
actions,  the  performance  of  which  makes  no  impression. 
She  cannot,  however,  be  said  to  have  been  suffering  from 
her  head.  There  is  a  wooden  half-tester  in  her  room 
which  might  conceivably  be  called  a  "  cot." 

There  is  here  a  general  correspondence  between  her 
actions  at  three  or  four  minutes  to  u,  and  those  at- 
tributed to  her  by  the  medium  at  11.25-11.30.  But 
the  seance  was  beginning  at  n,  and  the  medium  began 
at  once  with  my  mother.  It  is  then  an  interesting  matter 
to  examine  whether  she  was  trying  to  discover  what  my 
mother  was  engaged  upon  at  the  moment  or  to  recall 
her  actions  as  she  last  perceived  them. 

The  episode  of  Miss  Ledlie's  hair  not  having  been  cut 
short,  when  Mr.  Conner,  having  been  told  in  fun  that  it 
had,  felt  dissatisfied  with  Phinuit's  reply  implying  that  there 
was  nothing  special  to  say  about  its  length  —  dissatisfaction 
which  he  expressed  to  me  —  is  likewise  good  as  against 
ordinary  thought-transference. 

If  experiments  like  this  can  be  got  to  succeed  definitely, 
we  seem  driven  to  suppose  that  actions  can  be  detected,  or 


238  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

the  mind  of  a  neutral  unconscious  person  read,  at  any  dis- 
tance,—  connexion  being  established  by  some  link,  such  as  a 
book,  a  bit  of  jewellery,  an  old  letter,  or  a  lock  of  hair,  and 
sometimes  no  connexion  being  established  at  all. 

So  even  if  the  hypothesis  of  disembodied  telepathic  activ- 
ity could  be  intelligently  granted  I  do  not  see  that  it  would 
explain  all  the  facts.  Not,  for  instance,  Phinuit's  skill  in 
recognising  diseases,  reading  letters,  and  describing  contem- 
porary events.  Ordinary  thought-transference  does  better 
for  some  of  these ;  but  it  does  not  serve  for  all. 

If  we  reject  every  kind  of  telepathic  explanation,  it  seems 
as  if  we  should  be  driven  to  postulate  direct  clairvoyance; 
to  suppose  that  in  a  trance  a  person  is  able  to  enter  a  region 
where  miscellaneous  information  of  all  kinds  is  readily  avail- 
able; where,  for  instance,  time  and  space  are  not;  so  that 
everything  that  has  happened,  whether  at  a  distance  or  close 
at  hand,  whether  long  ago  or  recently,  can  be  seen  or  heard 
and  described.  Unknown  letters  in  a  box,  for  instance 
(which,  though  not  read  in  my  case,  are  said  to  be  sometimes 
read),  might  be  read  on  this  hypothesis  by  harking  back  to 
the  time  before  they  were  put  in;  or,  if  we  assume  it  possible 
to  see  the  future  also,  by  looking  forward  to  the  time  when 
they  were  taken  out.  A  fourth  dimension  of  space  is  known 
to  get  over  difficulties  like  this,  and  an  omnipresent  time  is 
very  like  a  fourth  dimension. 

I  see  no  way  of  evading  such  an  elastic  hypothesis  as  this. 
It  could  explain  anything  and  everything;  but  is  it  not  rather 
like  postulating  omniscience,  and  considering  that  an  explana- 
tion ?  It  is  all  very  well  to  call  a  thing  clairvoyance,  but  the 
thing  so  called  stands  just  as  much  in  need  of  explanation  as 
before. 

Undoubtedly  Mrs.  Piper  in  the  trance  state  has  access  to 
some  abnormal  sources  of  information,  and  is  for  the  time 


EXTRACTS  FROM  PIPER  SITTINGS      239 

cognisant  of  facts  which  happened  long  ago  or  at  a  distance; 
but  the  question  is  how  she  becomes  cognisant  of  them.  Is 
it  by  going  up  the  stream  of  time  and  witnessing  those  ac- 
tions as  they  occurred;  or  is  it  through  information  received 
from  the  still  existent  actors,  themselves  dimly  remembering 
and  relating  them;  or,  again,  is  it  through  the  influence  of 
contemporary  and  otherwise  occupied  minds  holding  stores 
of  forgotten  information  in  their  brains  and  offering  them 
unconsciously  to  the  perception  of  the  entranced  person;  or, 
lastly,  is  it  by  falling  back  for  the  time  into  a  one  Universal 
Mind  of  which  all  ordinary  consciousnesses  '  past  and  pres- 
ent'  are  but  portions?  Opinions  may  differ  as  to  which  is 
the  least  extravagant  supposition. 

Possibly  some  hypothesis  more  simple  than  any  of  these 
may  be  invented,  but  at  present  I  feel  as  if  it  were  unlikely 
that  any  one  explanation  will  fit  all  the  facts.  It  rather  feels 
as  if  we  were  at  the  beginning  of  what  is  practically  a  fresh 
branch  of  science ;  and  that  to  pretend  to  frame  explanations, 
except  in  the  most  tentative  and  elastic  fashion  for  the  pur- 
pose of  threading  the  facts  together  and  suggesting  fresh 
fields  for  experiment,  is  as  premature  as  it  would  have  been 
for  Galvani  to  have  expounded  the  nature  of  Electricity,  or 
Copernicus  the  laws  of  Comets  and  Meteors. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

DISCUSSION  OF  PIPER  SITTINGS 

UNLESS  the  evidence  of  which  the  merest  sample  has 
now  been  given  be  held  to  constitute  a  sufficiently 
strong  proof  that  the  performances  of  this  par- 
ticular "  medium  "  are  neither  lucky  shots  nor  explicable 
by  cunning  and  imposture,  it  is  premature  to  examine  further 
into  their  significance.  But  as  soon  as  these  preliminary 
suppositions  can  be  unreservedly  dismissed  the  best  plan 
i§  to  dismiss  them  thoroughly  and  waste  no  more  time  over 
them. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  next  hypothesis  is  that  the  in- 
formation is  derived  from  the  sitter's  mind  in  some  way  or 
other:  e.g.,  (a)  by  question  and  answer;  (b)  by  muscular 
and  other  semi-occult  and  unconscious  signalling;  (c)  by  di- 
rect mind-reading,  or  influence  of  the  sitter's  thought,  con- 
scious or  otherwise,  acting  on  the  entranced  person  as 
percipient.  I  do  not  propose  critically  to  distinguish  between 
these  three  methods,  although  the  first  is  very  ancient,  the 
second  only  recently  recognised  in  its  full  development  and 
power,  while  the  third  is  only  in  process  of  being  accepted  by 
scientific  men. 

A  large  number  of  instances  can  be  easily  found  which  are 
not  explicable  by  either  (a)  or  (b) ,  and  to  all  those  who  have 
hitherto  spent  any  labour  over  the  records  it  has  become 
clear  that  either  (c)  or  some  even  less  admissible  hypothesis 
is  necessary  to  explain  a  large  portion  of  the  results. 

Let  it  be  clearly  understood  that  the  first  question  is 

240 


DISCUSSIONS  OF  PIPER  SITTINGS      241 

whether  any  reading  of  the  mind  of  the  sitter  can  be  con- 
sidered sufficiently  efficacious.  That  some  mind  is  read  I 
should  think  most  probable ;  the  question  is  not  between  mind- 
reading  and  something  quite  distinct;  it  is  between  reading 
the  mind  of  the  sitter  and  reading  the  mind  of  some  one 
else. 

There  are  three  methods  of  reading  the  mind  of  the  sitter, 
labelled  above  (#),  (b) ,  and  (c) .  Methods  of  extracting 
information  from  distant  persons  are  fewer.  Correspond- 
ence is  one;  telepathy  may,  I  suppose,  be  assumed  to  be  an- 
other. The  only  method  known  to  science  of  extracting 
information  from  deceased  persons  is  the  discovery  of 
documents. 

Now,  in  respect  of  correspondence  and  documents  it  is 
comparatively  easy  to  be  assured  as  to  the  use  or  non-use  of 
these  methods  in  any  particular  case.  Eliminating  them,  if 
anything  is  obtained  inexplicable  by  the  agency  of  the  sitter, 
it  is  to  telepathy  that  we  must  look  for  a  possible  explana- 
tion. Telepathy  from  distant  persons  if  that  is  in  any  way 
feasible,  telepathy  from  deceased  persons  only  as  a  last  re- 
sort, but  telepathy  of  some  kind,  as  distinct  from  any  con- 
ceivable method  of  extracting  information  from  persons 
present :  that  seems  to  be  the  alternative  hypothesis,  to  an  ex- 
amination of  which  we  find  ourselves  forced  by  an  attentive 
study  of  the  records. 

The  question  therefore  largely  turns  upon  proof  of 
identity :  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  identity  claimed  by 
the  communicator.  Now  if  you  met  a  stranger  in  a  rail- 
way-carriage who  professed  to  have  returned  from  the 
Colonies  where  he  had  met  your  friends  or  relations,  of  whom 
he  showed  knowledge  in  some  decided  ways,  it  would  not  at 
first  occur  to  you  to  doubt  his  veracity,  even  though  he  was  a 
little  hazy  about  the  names  of  relatives,  and  occasionally 


242  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

mixed  things  up ;  nor  would  you  stigmatise  him  as  a  deceiver 
if  he  occasionally  made  use  of  information  supplied  by  your- 
self in  course  of  conversation.  But  directly  it  was  suggested 
that  he  might  be  a  thought-reader,  detailing  to  you  the  un- 
conscious contents  of  your  own  mind,  it  would  not  be  easy 
rigourously  to  disprove  the  suggestion,  especially  if  sub- 
sequent access  to  the  friends  chiefly  mentioned  were  denied 
you.  This  is,  however,  very  nearly,  the  problem  before  us. 
Only  occasionaly  does  the  question  forcibly  arise;  most 
facts  asserted  are,  of  course,  within  the  knowledge  of  the 
sitter,  and  none  of  those  are  of  any  use  for  the  purpose  of 
discrimination;  but  every  now  and  then  facts,  often  very 
trivial  but  not  within  the  knowledge  of  the  sitter,  have  been 
asserted,  and  have  been  more  or  less  clearly  verified  after- 
wards; and  in  order  to  assist  a  special  study  of  these  data, 
with  the  view  of  examining  how  far  they  are  really  valuable, 
I  made  an  index  to  them,  which  I  published  in  the  Proceed- 
ings, vol.  vi.,  p.  647,  as  an  Appendix  to  the  Report  of  the 
early  Piper  sittings.  To  that  index  a  student  may  refer. 

EPISODES  NORMALLY  SELECTED  FOR  IDENTIFICATION 

Concerning  the  means  of  identification  naturally  adopted 
by  living  people  who  are  communicating  with  each  other  at 
a  distance  by  telephone,  under  conditions  in  which  they  are 
debarred  from  communicating  their  names,  or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  under  conditions  in  which  their  names  might  be 
understood  as  being  falsely  given,  Professor  Hyslop  made 
some  interesting  experiments  which  are  thus  reported  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  (vol.  IX.,)  : — 

In  an  introduction  he  explains  the  object  and  the  method 
of  these  experiments,  about  which  there  was  nothing  super- 
normal at  all.  A  telegraph  line  was  arranged  between  two 


DISCUSSIONS  OF  PIPER  SITTINGS       243 

buildings  of  the  Columbia  University,  and  a  couple  of  friends 
or  acquaintances  were  taken  independently  to  each  end  of 
the  line,  only  one  of  them  knowing  who  was  at  the  other 
end;  and  this  one  (the  communicator)  was  to  send  messages, 
at  first  vague  but  increasing  in  definiteness,  while  the  other 
person  was  to  guess  until  he  could  guess  correctly  and  as- 
suredly who  it  was  that  was  at  the  other  end  of  the  line. 
The  replies  and  guesses  were  likewise  telegraphed  by  an 
assistant  stationed  with  the  receiver,  for  the  guidance  of  the 
sender.  Professor  Hyslop's  objects  in  carrying  out  an  ex- 
tensive series  of  this  kind  of  experiment  are  thus  stated  by 
himself: — 

"  I  may  now  summarise  the  several  objects  of  the  whole 
series  of  experiments.  The  first  of  these  objects  was  not 
intimated  to  any  one.  I  was  extremely  careful  not  to  breathe 
it  to  any  one,  not  even  to  my  assistants,  so  that  the  results 
might  be  entirely  spontaneous  and  without  the  influence  of 
suggestion  from  me. 

I.  To  test  the  extent  to  which  intelligent  persons  would 
spontaneously  select  trivial  and  unimportant  incidents  for 
the  purpose  of  identification  —  that  is,  incidents  that  were 
not  connected,  or  not  necessarily  connected,  with  the  main 
habits  of  their  lives. 

II.  To  test  the  accuracy  of  the  identification  in  connection 
with  both  individual  and  collective  incidents,  and  especially 
to  test  how  slight  or  how  definite  the  incident  had  to  be  in 
order  to  suggest  rightly  the  person  it  was  intended  to  repre- 
sent. 

III.  To  test  the  success  and  personal  assurance  of  the 
receiver  of  the  messages  in  guessing  who  is  the  true  sender, 
in  spite  of  some  messages  that  are  misleading  or  even  false, 
but  the  bulk  of  which  involves  sufficient  cumulative  facts  to 
overcome  the  natural  scepticism  and  confusion  caused  by  in- 
coherences and  contradictions. 

IV.  To  study  the  sources  of  misunderstanding  that  might 
arise  under  such  circumstances  when  one  party  was  ignorant 


244 

of  the  intentions  of  the  other,  and  the  causes  of  illusion  in 
identification  which  we  can  determine  in  my  experiments,  and 
which  are  likely  to  occur  in  the  Piper  case." 

And  he  proceeds : — 

"  In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  objects,  it  is  very  interesting 
to  observe  the  uniformity  with  which  perfectly  intelligent  per- 
sons spontaneously  chose  what  would  generally  be  considered 
trivial  incidents  in  order  to  identify  themselves.  This 
seemed  naturally  to  recommend  itself  to  them,  perhaps  for 
the  reason  that  trivial  circumstances  represent  far  more  isolo- 
tion  than  any  chosen  from  the  main  trend  of  life,  though 
I  noticed  no  consciousness  of  this  fact  in  any  one.  It  was 
simply  the  instinctive  method  which  every  one  tended  to 
adopt.  The  records  show  very  distinctly  that,  if  left  to 
themselves,  men  will  naturally  select  unimportant  incidents 
for  proof  of  their  identity,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing features  of  this  choice  that  the  individual  relied  wholly 
upon  the  laws  of  association  to  recall  what  was  wanted,  after 
deciding  on  the  nature  of  the  incidents  to  be  chosen.  Very 
often  there  were  interesting  illustrations  of  those  capricious 
revivals  in  memory  of  remote  incidents  which  not  only  re- 
semble so  much  the  incidents  in  the  Piper  sittings  in  triviality, 
but  also  represent  the  caprices  and  incoherences  of  associative 
recall,  intelligible  to  the  subject  on  reflection,  but  hardly  so 
to  the  outside  observer.  At  any  rate,  the  results  in  this  re- 
gard completely  remove  all  objections  to  the  Piper  phe- 
nomena from  the  standpoint  of  the  triviality  of  the  incidents 
chosen  for  identification;  and  that  is  an  accomplishment  of 
some  worth." 

I  may  further  add  that  though  the  incidents  serving  for 
identification  sounded  vague  to  bystanders  or  readers  of  the 
record,  yet  when  they  were  explained  from  the  point  of  view 
of  both  sender  and  receiver  they  were  perceived  to  be  dis- 
tinct enough,  and  to  justify  the  leap  of  identification  taken 
upon  them.  And  this  fact  is  of  interest  in  connection  with 
the  Piper  record,  where  it  has  been  often  felt  by  readers  or 


DISCUSSIONS  OF  PIPER  SITTINGS        245 

note-takers  that  sitters  identify  their  relatives  too  easily  and 
fancifully;  for  in  Professor  Hyslop's  experiments  the 
identification  is  often  performed  on  still  slighter  grounds, 
often  on  what  would  superficially  appear  no  legitimate  ground 
at  all,  and  yet  it  turns  out,  when  both  ends  of  the  line  are 
catechised  (as  they  can  not  be  catechised  in  the  real  Piper 
case),  that  these  incidents  are  perceived  to  be  of  force  ade- 
quate to  support  the  conclusion  based  upon  them.  I  have 
been  constantly  struck,  while  taking  notes  for  a  stranger 
at  a  Piper  sitting,  with  the  apparently  meaningless  incidents 
which  were  being  referred  to ;  and  yet  afterwards  *  when 
I  saw  the  annotations,'  realised  their  meaning  and  appro- 
priateness. 

Further,  in  answer  to  Professor  Sidgwick's  tentative 
objection  that  the  sitters  in  the  Hyslop  experiments  were 
only  playing  at  identification,  and  therefore  were  naturally 
in  a  more  or  less  frivolous  mood,  whereas  on  spiritistic 
hypothesis  the  Piper  communicators  would  be  serious  and 
emotional  and  not  so  likely  to  resort  to  trivial  incidents:  we 
may  imagine  the  case  of  a  wanderer  not  able  to  return  to 
his  home,  but  able  to  communicate  with  it  for  a  few  minutes 
by  telephone.  In  however  strenuous  and  earnest  a  spirit 
he  might  be, —  indeed,  both  ends  of  the  line  might  be, —  yet 
when  asked  to  prove  his  identity  and  overcome  the  dread 
of  illusion  and  personation,  he  would  instinctively  try  to 
think  of  some  trifling  and  absurd  private  incident;  and  this 
might  very  likely  be  accepted  as  sufficient,  and  might  serve 
as  a  prelude  to  closer  and  more  affectionate  messages,  which, 
previous  to  identification,  would  be  out  of  place.  And  I  feel 
bound  to  say  that  my  own  experience  of  the  Piper  sittings 
leads  me  to  assert  that  this  kind  of  genuinely  dignified  and 
serious  and  appropriate  message  does  ultimately  in  many 
cases  come,  but  not  until  the  preliminary  stages  (stages  be- 
yond which  some  sitters  seem  unable  to  get)  are  fairly 
passed. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

SUMMARY  OF  DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEW 

OF  all  men  at  that  time  living,  undoubtedly  Dr. 
Hodgson  had  more  experience  of  Mrs.  Piper's 
phenomena  than  any  other  —  for  he  devoted  years 
of  his  life  to  the  subject  and  made  it  practically  his  sole 
occupation.  He  did  this  because,  after  preliminary  study, 
he  recognised  its  great  importance.  He  was  by  no  means 
a  credulous  man  —  in  fact  he  was  distinctly  sceptical,  and 
many  have  been  the  spurious  phenomena  which  he  detected 
and  exposed.  In  some  respects  he  went,  in  my  judgment, 
too  far  in  his  destructive  career  —  he  disbelieved  in  Mrs. 
Thompson,  for  instance,  and  he  practically  for  the  time 
annihilated  Eusapia  Palladino,  the  famous  "  physical " 
medium  —  but  hyper-scepticism  is  far  more  useful  to  the 
development  of  the  subject  than  hyper-credulity,  and  when 
such  a  man  is,  after  adequate  study,  decidedly  and  finally 
convinced,  his  opinions  deserve,  and  from  those  who  knew 
him  received,  serious  attention. 

Not  that  we  must  be  coerced  into  acceptance,  any  more 
than  into  rejection,  of  facts,  by  any  critical  judgment  passed 
upon  them  by  others ;  but  undoubtedly  his  views  are  entitled 
to  great  weight.  Accordingly  I  extract  some  of  them  from 
a  paper  which  he  published  in  the  Proceedings,  vol.  xiii., 
in  the  year  1898,  and  I  begin  with  his  summary  of  the  kind 
of  statements  made  by  the  ostensible  communicators  as  to 
the  way  the  phenomenon  appeared  to  them  —  on  their  side, 

246 


DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEW  247 

statements  which  I  judge  were  partially  accepted  by  him  as 
true,  but  see  p.  267. 

The  statements  of  the  "  communicators  "  as  to  what  occurs  on  the 
physical  side  may  be  put  in  brief  general  terms  as  follows.  We  all 
have  bodies  composed  of  "  luminiferous  ether  "  enclosed  in  our  flesh 
and  blood  bodies.  The  relation  of  Mrs.  Piper's  etherial  body  to  the 
etherial  world,  in  which  the  "  communicators  "  claim  to  dwell,  is  such 
that  a  special  store  of  peculiar  energy  is  accumulated  in  connection 
with  her  organism,  and  this  appears  to  them  as  "  a  light."  Mrs.  Pi- 
per's etherial  body  is  removed  by  them,  and  her  ordinary  body  appears 
as  a  shell  rilled  with  this  "  light."  Several  "  communicators  "  may 
be  in  contact  with  this  light  at  the  same  time.  There  are  two  chief 
"  masses  "  of  it  in  her  case,  one  in  connection  with  the  head,  the  other 
in  connection  with  the  right  arm  and  hand.  Latterly,  that  in  con- 
nection with  the  hand  has  been  "  brighter  "  than  that  in  connection 
with  the  head.  If  the  "  communicator  "  gets  into  contact  with  the 
"  light  "  and  thinks  his  thoughts,  they  tend  to  be  reproduced  by  move- 
ments in  Mrs.  Piper's  organism.  Very  few  can  produce  vocal  ef- 
fects, even  when  in  contact  with  the  "  light  "  of  the  head,  but  prac- 
tically all  can  produce  writing  movements  when  in  contact  with  the 
"  light "  of  the  hand.  Upon  the  amount  and  brightness  of  this 
"  light,"  cceteris  paribus,  the  communications  depend.  When  Mrs. 
Piper  is  in  ill-health  the  "  light  "  is  feebler,  and  the  communications 
tend  to  be  less  coherent.  It  also  gets  used  up  during  a  sitting,  and 
when  it  gets  dim  there  is  a  tendency  to  incoherence  even  in  other- 
wise clear  communicators.  In  all  cases,  coming  into  contact  with 
this  "  light  "  tends  to  produce  bewilderment,  and  if  the  contact  is 
continued  too  long,  or  the  "  light "  becomes  very  dim,  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  communicator  tends  to  lapse  completely. 

Then  floods  of  excited  emotion  at  the  presence  of  incarnate  friends, 
dominant  ideas  that  disturbed  him  when  he  was  incarnate  himself, 
the  desire  to  render  advice  and  assistance  to  other  living  friends  and 
relatives,  etc.,  all  crowd  upon  his  mind;  the  sitter  begins  to  ask 
questions  about  matters  having  no  relation  to  what  he  is  thinking 
about,  he  gets  more  and  more  bewildered,  more  and  more  com- 


248  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

atose,  loses  his  "  grasp  "  of  the  "  light,"  and  drifts  away,  perhaps  to 
return  several  times  and  go  through  a  similar  experience,  (pp. 
400-1.) 

For  the  several  years  during  which  the  personality  calling 
itself  Phinuit  continued  to  control  the  voice  in  the  trance, 
after  the  development  of  the  "  automatic  writing,"  the  per- 
sonalities controlling  respectively  the  hand  and  the  voice 
showed  apparently  a  complete  independence. 

The  sense  of  hearing  for  the  "  hand  "  consciousness  ap- 
pears to  be  in  the  hand,  and  the  sitter  must  talk  to  the  hand 
to  be  understood.  I  do  not  profess  —  says  Dr.  Hodgson  — 
to  be  able  to  give  any  satisfactory  explanation  of  some  of  the 
processes  which  I  am  describing. 

The  thoughts  that  pass  through  the  consciousness  con- 
trolling the  hand  tend  to  be  written,  and  one  of  the  difficulties 
apparently  is  to  prevent  the  writing  out  of  thoughts  which 
are  not  intended  for  the  sitter.  Other  "  indirect  communi- 
cators "  frequently  purport  to  be  present,  and  the  "  conscious- 
ness of  the  hand  "  listens  to  them  with  the  hand  as  though 
they  were  close  by,  as  it  listens  to  the  sitters,  presenting  the 
palm  of  the  hand,  held  in  slightly  different  positions  for  the 
purpose  of  different  "  direct  communicators,"  so  as  to  bring 
usually  the  region  of  the  junction  between  the  little  finger  and 
the  palm  towards  the  mouth  of  the  sitter.  The  writing  at 
its  best  is  liable  to  include  occasionally  remarks  not  intended 
to  be  written,  words  apparently  addressed  by  an  "  indirect 
communicator  "  to  the  consciousness  of  the  hand,  or  by  the 
consciousness  of  the  hand  to  an  "  indirect  communicator," 
or  by  "  indirect  communicators  "  to  one  another;  or,  in  worse 
cases,  where  the  power  of  inhibition  seems  to  have  been 
almost  entirely  wanting,  the  wandering  thoughts  of  the  "  di- 
rect communicator "  are  apparently  reproduced  in  inco- 
herent fragments,  mixed  up  with  his  attempts  at  replies  to 


DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEW  249 

questions  of  the  sitter,  and  bits  of  conversation,  as  it  were, 
between  him  and  other  "  indirect  communicators." 

Phinuit,  for  example,  claims  to  have  done  much  work, 
while  the  hand  has  been  used  for  writing,  in  keeping  back, 
so  to  speak,  various  other  would-be  communicators.  Inter- 
ruptions, nevertheless,  were  frequent  enough  until  the  advent 
of  the  group  connected  with  "  W.  Stainton  Moses,"  and  the 
establishment  of  their  supervision.  Whatever  else  has  been 
done,  it  seems  to  me  that  one  result  of  this  change  has  been 
to  make  the  way  clearer,  and  freer  from  interruptions  and 
from  the  admixture  of  apparently  foreign  elements  that  pre- 
vailed so  largely  in  earlier  sittings.  The  new  "  controls  " 
claim  to  have  both  the  desire  and  the  power  to  exclude  "  in- 
ferior "  intelligences,  whom  they  speak  of  as  "  earth-bound 
spirits,"  from  the  use  of  the  "  light,"  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  perturbations  referred  to  have  practically  disap- 
peared. 

That  the  exclusion  of  influences  that  are  continually  chang- 
ing —  and  that  may  be  otherwise  not  conducive  to  the 
clearest  results  —  is  a  desirable  thing,  is  also  perhaps  indi- 
cated by  the  methods  which  we  have  found  most  successful 
in  forms  of  ordinary  telepathic  experiment.  We  there  take 
into  consideration  the  attitude  of  mind  of  agent  and  per- 
cipient; we  give  the  percipient  a  chance  to  receive  impres- 
sions of  one  object  before  we  hurry  him  along  to  another; 
we  have  regard  to  what  may  be  the  extremely  sensitive  state 
of  his  "  telepathic  faculty,"  whatever  that  may  be,  and 
whether  it  resides  in  his  subliminal  consciousness  or  not. 

Similarly,  if  we  find  a  particularly  good  agent  and  a  par- 
ticularly good  percipient,  we  should  think  it  wise  to  give  them 
the  best  opportunity  possible,  in  long  series  of  experiments, 
to  get  better  results,  and  by  varying  the  conditions,  to  ascer- 


250  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

tain  if  possible  what  are  the  limits  of,  and  what  the  causes 
most  conducive  to,  clear  telepathic  communication. 

And  so  I  think,  says  Dr.  Hodgson,  that  in  Mrs.  Piper's 
and  similar  cases,  the  introduction  of  persons  more  or  less 
indiscriminately  may  not  be  a  condition  for  general  success, 
but  a  condition  for  perpetual  blundering.  We  can  all  use 
telephones  now ;  but  when  Reis  and  Bell  and  Blake  and  others 
were  making  experiments  on  lines  that  eventually  led  to  sat- 
isfactory instruments,  they  would  hardly  have  thought  it 
worth  while  to  let  the  general  public  spend  their  time  listen- 
ing to  more  or  less  inarticulate  noises  through  their  incipient 
receiving  apparatus. 

Sometimes,  shortly  before  the  hand  starts  writing,  Phinuit 
gives  notice  that  some  one  is  "  going  to  talk  with  you  him- 
self." Sometimes  the  hand  is  "  seized,"  and  passes  through 
its  convulsive  vagaries  while  Phinuit  gives  no  sign,  but  talks 
on  with  the  sitter  continuously,  even  after  the  writing  has 
started.  To  give  an  extreme  instance  of  this,  at  a  sitting 
where  a  lady  was  engaged  in  a  profoundly  personal  conver- 
sation with  Phinuit  concerning  her  relations,  and  where  I  [H] 
was  present  to  assist  —  knowing  the  lady  and  her  family 
very  intimately  —  the  hand  was  seized  very  quietly  and,  as  it 
were,  surreptitiously,  and  wrote  a  very  personal  communica- 
tion to  myself,  purporting  to  come  from  a  deceased  friend  of 
mine,  and  having  no  relation  whatsoever  to  the  sitter;  pre- 
cisely as  if  a  caller  should  enter  a  room  where  two  strangers 
to  him  were  conversing,  but  a  friend  of  his  also  present,  and 
whisper  a  special  message  into  the  ear  of  the  friend  without 
disturbing  the  conversation. 

In  the  case  of  a  new  communicator,  however,  Phinuit 
frequently  requests  the  sitter  to  "  talk  to  him,"  i.e.,  to  the 
hand-writer  [who  is  not  Phinuit  but  "  G.  P."  or  "  Rector  " 
or  someone  else] ,  though  Phinuit  is  not  averse  from  keeping 


DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEW  251 

up  the  oral  conversation  as  well,  if  this  is  desired.  Indeed 
he  seems  to  prefer  this,  and  when  the  sitter  turns  to  pay 
attention  to  the  hand,  Phinuit  frequently  makes  some  such 
enigmatical  remark  as  "  I'll  help  him,"  or  "  I'll  help  to 
hold  him  up."  At  other  times  Phinuit  will  request  that  an 
article  should  be  given  to  himself,  so  that  he  might  have 
something  to  engage  his  attention,  and  I  have  known  him 
to  blurt  out  something  about  the  article  in  the  middle  of 
the  sitting,  while  the  writing  is  still  going  on.  At  any 
time,  apparently,  under  these  circumstances,  Phinuit  can  be 
evoked  from  his  silence  by  talking  into  the  ear,  and  will  at 
once  resume  the  communication  while  the  writing  continues 
without  a  break. 


It  occurred  to  me  (continues  Dr.  Hodgson)  that  possi- 
bly the  left  hand  might  also  write,  and  that  it  might  be 
possible  to  get  both  hands  writing  and  Phinuit  speaking,  all 
at  the  same  time  on  different  subjects  with  different  per- 
sons; and  I  remarked  to  Phinuit  that  I  hoped  some  day  to 
get  a  separate  "  control  "  of  each  finger  and  toe  of  the 
medium's  body,  while  he  could  manage  the  voice.  On  Feb- 
ruary 24th,  1894,  the  "Edmund  Gurney  "  control  wrote 
in  the  course  of  some  remarks  about  certain  "  mediums  " : 
"  In  these  cases  there  is  no  reason  why  various  spiritual 
minds  cannot  express  their  thoughts  at  the  same  time 
through  the  same  organism."  I  then  referred  to  my  pro- 
posed experiment  with  the  two  hands,  and  said  that  I  would 
arrange  to  try  it  some  time,  with  "  Gurney  "  using  one  hand 
and  "  George  Pelham  "  the  other,  but  that  I  was  not  pre- 
pared to  make  the  experiment  at  that  time.  At  my  next 
sitting,  February  26th,  1894,  when  I  was  unprepared  and 
was  alone,  an  attempt,  only  very  partially  successful,  was 
made  to  write  independently  with  both  hands  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  sitting.  On  March  i8th,  1895,  another 
attempt,  much  more  successful,  was  made,  when  I  was  ac- 
companied for  the  purpose  by  Miss  Edmunds.  Her  "  de- 


252  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

ceased  sister  "  wrote  with  one  hand,  and  G.  P.  with  the 
other,  while  Phinuit  was  talking, —  all  simultaneously  on 
different  subjects.  Very  little,  however,  was  written  with 
the  left  hand.  The  difficulty  appeared  to  lie  chiefly  in  the 
deficiencies  of  the  left  hand  as  a  writing-machine. 

After  having  endeavoured  as  best  I  could  to  follow  the 
writing  of  thousands  of  pages  with  scores  of  different  writ- 
ers, after  having  put  many  inquiries  to  the  communicators 
themselves,  and  after  having  analysed  numerous  spon- 
taneously occurring  incidents  of  all  kinds,  I  have  no  sort 
of  doubt  whatever  but  that  the  consciousness  producing  the 
writing, —  whatever  that  consciousness  be,  whether  Mrs. 
Piper's  secondary  personality  or  the  real  communicator  as 
alleged, —  is  not  conscious  of  writing,  and  that  the  thoughts 
that  pass  through  "  his  "  mind  tend  to  be  reproduced  in 
writing  by  some  part  of  the  writing  mechanism  of  Mrs. 
Piper's  organism.  This  writing  mechanism  is  far  from 
perfect,  and  it  frequently  produces  words  that  cannot  be 
read.  This  entails  a  repetition  of  the  word  and  checks  the 
thought  of  the  communicator,  already  reduced  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  thinking  his  words  at  the  slow  rate  of  writing,  and 
of  excluding  other  thoughts  that  he  does  not  wish  written, 
in  a  state  when  he  has  already  been  steeped  into  a  state  of 
partial  sleep  by  coming  into  relation  with  an  organism  not 
his  own,  for  the  purpose  of  manifesting  in  my  physical  world. 

Regarding  these  phenomena,  then,  as  supernormal,  I  may 
first  emphasise  the  fact  that  it  is  much  more  difficult  now  to 
suppose  that  the  supernormal  knowledge  exhibited  has  its 
source  in  the  minds  of  living  persons,  than  it  was  in  the 
earlier  years  of  Mrs.  Piper's  trances,  when  practically  the 
only  intermediary  was  the  Phinuit  personality. 

With  the  advent  of  the  G.  P.  intelligence,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  automatic  writing,  and  the  use  of  the  hand  by 
scores  of  other  alleged  communicators,  the  problem  has  as- 
sumed a  very  different  aspect.  The  dramatic  form  has  be- 


DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEW  253 

come  an  integral  part  of  the  phenomenon.  With  the  hand 
writing  and  the  voice  speaking  at  the  same  time  on  differ- 
ent subjects  and  with  different  persons,  with  the  hand  writ- 
ing on  behalf  of  different  communicators  at  the  same  sitting, 
with  different  successive  communicators  using  the  hand  at 
the  same  sitting,  as  well  as  at  different  sittings,  it  is  difficult 
to  resist  the  impression  that  there  are  here  actually  con- 
cerned various  different  and  distinct  and  individually  co- 
herent streams  of  consciousness.  To  the  person  unfamiliar 
with  a  series  of  these  later  sittings,  it  may  seem  a  plausible 
hypothesis  that  perhaps  one  secondary  personality  might  do 
the  whole  work,  might  use  the  voice  and  write  contem- 
poraneously with  the  hand,  and  pretend  in  turn  to  be  the 
friends  of  the  various  sitters;  might  in  short  be  a  finished 
actor  with  telepathic  powers,  producing  the  impression  not 
only  that  he  is  the  character  he  plays,  but  that  others  are 
with  him  also,  though  invisible,  playing  their  respective 
parts.  I  do  not,  however,  think  it  at  all  likely  that  he  would 
continue  to  think  it  plausible  after  witnessing  and  studying 
the  numerous  coherent  groups  of  memories  connected  with 
different  persons,  the  characteristic  emotional  tendencies  dis- 
tinguishing such  different  persons,  the  excessive  complica- 
tion of  the  acting  required,  and  the  absence  of  any  apparent 
bond  of  union  for  the  associated  thoughts  and  feelings  indi- 
cative of  each  individuality,  save  some  persistent  basis  of 
that  individuality  itself. 

But  here  objectors  arise. 

;'  Why,"  they  will  say,  "  if  discarnate  persons  are  really 
communicating,  do  they  not  give  us  much  more  evidence? 
We  ourselves,  if  put  in  the  witness-box  here  and  cross-ex- 
amined, could  do  vastly  better  even  than  G.  P.,  and  why 
have  so  few  others  been  able  to  show  even  an  approxima- 


254  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

tion  to  such  clearness  as  he  exhibited?  Why  all  the  inco- 
herence and  confusion  and  irrelevancy?"  In  all  cases  I 
should  expect  at  first  a  confusion  in  understanding  me,  as 
well  as  a  confusion  in  manifesting  to  me.  If  the  cessation 
from  manifestation  has  been  very  complete  and  has  lasted  a 
very  long  time,  I  should  expect  a  greater  bewilderment,  for  a 
short  time  at  least,  when  it  began  again  to  manifest.  These 
deficiencies  and  bewilderments  I  should  expect  to  be  much 
more  marked  if  such  a  consciousness,  instead  of  trying  to 
manifest  itself  once  more  through  its  own  organism  with 
which  it  had  practised  for  years,  were  restricted  for  its  mani- 
festations to  another  organism.  In  such  an  event  I  should 
expect  the  manifestations  to  partake  in  the  first  instance  of 
the  same  lack  of  inhibitory  control,  the  same  inability  to 
appreciate  my  injunctions  and  questions,  the  same  dreamy 
irrelevancy  that  characterises  all  the  manifestations,  in  my 
physical  world,  of  a  consciousness  that  has  temporarily 
ceased  to  manifest  therein  and  begins  once  more  to  reveal 
itself  in  what  I  call  the  waking  state, —  varying  in  indi- 
vidual cases  as  I  find  they  do  in  ordinary  life, —  whether  it 
be  after  ordinary  sleep,  or  prolonged  coma,  or  anaesthetisa- 
tion,  etc. —  but  with  a  tendency  for  the  incoherency  of  the 
manifestations  to  be  much  more  pronounced  inasmuch  as  the 
consciousness  is  trying  to  regain  its  wakefulness  towards  me 
by  an  unwonted  way.  Whether  such  a  consciousness  could 
ever  regain  its  complete  former  fulness  in  my  world  through 
another  organism  seems  highly  improbable.  What  I  should 
expect  to  find  is  that  through  another  organism  it  could 
only  partially  wake.  Hence  I  must  suppose  that  even  the 
best  of  direct  "  communicators "  through  Mrs.  Piper's 
trance  is  partly  asleep.  This  is  the  first  point,  says  Dr. 
Hodgson,  which  I  wish  to  emphasise. 


DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEW:  255 

Again,  that  persons  just  "  deceased  "  should  be  extremely 
confused  and  unable  to  communicate  directly,  or  even  at  all, 
seems  perfectly  natural  after  the  shock  and  wrench  of  death. 
Thus  in  the  case  of  my  friend  Hart,  he  was  unable  to 
write  the  second  day  after  death.  In  another  case  a  friend 
of  mine,  whom  I  may  call  D.,  wrote,  with  what  appeared 
to  be  much  difficulty,  his  name  and  the  words,  "  I  am  all 
right  now.  Adieu,"  within  two  or  three  days  of  his  death. 
In  another  case,  F.,  a  near  relative  of  Madame  Elisa,  was 
unable  to  write  on  the  morning  after  his  death.  On  the 
second  day  after,  when  a  stranger  was  present  with  me 
for  a  sitting,  he  wrote  two  or  three  sentences,  saying,  "  I 
am  too  weak  to  articulate  clearly;"  and  not  many  days  later 
he  wrote  fairly  well  and  clearly,  and  dictated  also  to  Madame 
Elisa,  as  amanuensis,  an  account  of  his  feelings  at  finding 
himself  in  his  new  surroundings.  Both  D.  and  F.  became 
very  clear  in  a  short  time.  D.  communicated  later  on,  fre- 
quently, both  by  writing  and  speech,  chiefly  the  latter,  and 
showed  always  an  impressively  marked  and  characteristic 
personality.  Hart,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  become  so 
clear  till  many  months  later.  I  learned  long  afterwards  that 
his  illness  had  been  much  longer  and  more  fundamental 
than  I  had  supposed.  The  continued  confusion  in  his  case 
seemed  explicable  if  taken  in  relation  with  the  circumstances 
of  his  prolonged  illness,  including  fever,  but  there  was  no 
assignable  relation  between  his  confusion  and  the  state  of 
my  own  mind. 

Returning  to  the  actual  circumstances,  I  say  that  if  the 
"spirits"  of  our  "deceased"  friends  do  communicate  as 
alleged  through  the  organisms  of  still  incarnate  persons,  we 
are  not  justified  in  expecting  them  to  manifest  themselves 
with  the  same  fulness  of  clear  consciousness  that  they  ex- 
hibited during  life.  We  should  on  the  contrary  expect  even 
the  best  communicators  to  fall  short  of  this  for  the  two 
main  reasons :  ( I )  loss  of  familiarity  with  the  conditions  of 
using  a  gross  material  organism  at  all  —  we  should- expect 
them  to  be  like  fishes  out  of  water  or  birds  immersed  in  it; 
(2)  inability  to  govern  precisely  and  completely  the  par- 
ticular gross  material  organism  which  they  are  compelled. 


256  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

to  use.  They  learned  when  living  to  play  on  one  very  com- 
plicated speaking  and  writing  machine,  and  suddenly  find 
themselves  set  down  to  play  on  another  of  a  different  make. 
There  are,  indeed,  three  kinds  of  confusion  that  need  to 
be  distinguished  by  the  investigator:  (i)  the  confusion  in 
the  "  spirit,"  whether  he  is  communicating  or  not,  due  pri- 
marily to  his  mental  and  bodily  conditions  when  living;  (2) 
the  confusion  in  the  "  spirit  "  produced  by  the  conditions 
into  which  he  comes  when  in  the  act  of  communicating;  (3) 
the  confusion  in  the  result  due  to  the  failure  of  complete 
control  over  the  writing  (or  other)  mechanism  of  the  me- 
dium. (2)  and  (3)  are  increased  very  much  by  the  failures 
of  sitters  to  understand  the  process.  Thus  when  a  "  Mrs. 
Mitchell "  control  was  requested  to  repeat  words  which  we 
had  difficulty  in  deciphering,  she  wrote: — 

No,  I  can't,  it  is  too  much  work  and  too  weakening,  and  I  cannot 
repeat  —  you  must  help  me  and  I  will  prove  myself  to  you.  I  cannot 
collect  my  thoughts  to  repeat  sentences  to  you.  My  darling  husband, 
I  am  not  away  from  you,  but  right  by  your  side.  Welcome  me  as 
you  would  if  I  were  with  you  in  the  flesh  and  blood  body.  [Sitter 
asks  for  test.]  ...  I  cannot  tell  myself  just  how  you  hear  me, 
and  it  bothers  me  a  little  .  .  .  how  do  you  hear  me  speak,  dear, 
when  we  speak  by  thought  only?  Your  thoughts  do  not  reach 
me  at  all  when  I  am  speaking  to  you,  but  I  hear  a  strange  sound  and 
have  to  half  guess.  .  .  . 

Of  such  confusions  as  I  have  indicated  above  I  cannot  find 
any  satisfactory  explanation  in  "  telepathy  from  the  living  " 
(continues  Dr.  Hodgson),  but  they  fall  into  a  rational  order 
when  related  to  the  personalities  of  the  "  dead." 

The  persistent  failures  of  many  communicators  under 
varying  conditions;  the  first  failures  of  other  communicators 
who  soon  develop  into  clearness  in  communicating,  and 
whose  first  attempts  apparently  can  be  made  much  clearer  by 
the  assistance  of  persons  professing  to  be  experienced  com- 
municators; the  special  bewilderment,  soon  to  disappear,  of 
communicators  shortly  after  death  and  apparently  in  con- 


DR.  HODGSON'S  VIEWS  257 

sequence  of  it;  the  character  of  the  specific  mental  auto- 
matisms manifest  in  the  communications;  the  clearness  of 
remembrance  in  little  children  recently  deceased  as  contrasted 
with  the  forgetfulness  of  childish  things  shown  by  commu- 
nicators who  died  when  children  many  years  before, —  all 
present  a  definite  relation  to  the  personalities  alleged  to  be 
communicating,  and  are  exactly  what  we  should  expect  if 
they  are  actually  communicating  under  the  conditions  of  Mrs. 
Piper's  trance  manifestations.  The  results  fit  the  claim. 

On  the  other  hand  these  are  not  the  results  which  we 
should  expect  on  the  hypothesis  of  telepathy  from  the  living. 
If  the  hypothesis  of  telepathy  from  the  living  is  acted  upon 
in  anything  like  the  ordinary  experimental  way,  the  super- 
normal results  will  be  lessened.  If  the  investigator  per- 
sistently refuses  to  regard  the  communications  as  coming 
from  the  sources  claimed,  he  will  not  get  the  best  results. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  acts  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  com- 
municators are  "  spirits  "  acting  under  adverse  conditions, 
and  if  he  treats  them  as  he  would  a  living  person  in  a  similar 
state,  he  will  find  an  improvement  in  the  communications. 

And  having  tried  the  hypothesis  of  telepathy  from  the 
living  for  several  years,  and  the  "  spirit  "  hypothesis  also  for 
several  years  —  says  Dr.  Hodgson  —  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  affirming  with  the  most  absolute  assurance  that  the 
"  spirit  "  hypothesis  is  justified  by  its  fruits,  and  the  other 
hypothesis  is  not. 

Note  Added  October,  igog. 

A  book  has  just  been  sent  me  from  America,  published  by 
Sherman  French  &  Co.  under  the  title  "  Both  Sides  of  the 
Veil,"  which  contains  a  supplementary  account  of  Mrs. 
Piper  and  her  phenomena  from  the  pen  of  Miss  Robbins,  a 
lady  who  has  had  considerable  experience  of  sittings,  being 
very  sympathetic  to  the  controls,  and  who  often  acted  as  con- 
fidential stenographer  for  Dr.  Hodgson,  as  well  as  for  some 
important  civic  officials  in  Boston.  Sometimes  she  was  al- 
lowed to  sit  alone  with  Mrs.  Piper,  especially  for  voice  sit- 


258         AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

tings,  taking  her  own  notes.  It  is  a  selection  from  these 
records  of  her  own  that  she  has  now  printed,  prefacing  it 
with  an  Introduction  and  Description  written  in  an  earnest 
and  believing  spirit.  Her  point  of  view  and  mental  attitude 
are  somewhat  different  from  ours,  and  hence  her  record  is 
usefully  supplementary,  since  she  sets  forth  the  obvious  ap- 
pearance of  the  phenomenon  in  a  consecutive  and  readable 
manner. 

Without  endorsing  her  estimate  of  value  throughout,  I 
can  heartily  commend  the  book  to  the  attention  of  those  who, 
without  being  too  critical,  feel  an  interest  in  the  manner  and 
the  substance  of  communications  thus  received,  and  who 
would  like  to  hear  more  of  them. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS.     GENERAL 
INFORMATION 

THE   preceding   account   of  my   own   sittings   dates 
from    1889-90.     I    saw   Mrs.    Piper   again   on   9 
Nov.   1906  at  Liverpool,  where  she  had  just  ar- 
rived from  America,  and  was  staying  in  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Isaac  Thompson  of  Liverpool,  whose  acquantaince  she  had 
made  on  her  previous  visit  to  this  country.     Another  series 
of  sittings  then  began,  but  at  a  rate  of  only  two  or  three 
per  week  instead  of  two  a  day,  and  of  the  general  character 
of  these  I  now  propose  to  give  an  account. 

Since  our  first  English  experience  with  Mrs.  Piper  a  great 
mass  of  material  had  been  accumulated  in  America,  under 
the  management  of  Dr.  Hodgson,  and  the  manner  of  the 
sittings  had  somewhat  changed.  In  the  old  days  com- 
munication had  always  been  made  with  the  voice,  and  any 
writing  done  was  only  brief  and  occasional.  Communica- 
tions are  now  almost  entirely  in  writing,  and  only  under  ex- 
ceptional circumstances  is  the  voice  employed. 

The  manner  of  preparation  was  as  follows.  A  quiet 
room  was  selected  in  which  interruption  need  not  be  feared, 
a  fire  was  provided  for  warmth,  and  the  windows  were  open 
for  ventilation.  A  comfortable  chair  was  placed  near  a 
table,  on  which  was  a  pile  of  from  four  to  six  cushions  or 
pillows,  on  which  the  medium  sitting  in  the  chair  and  lean- 
ing forward  could  securely  rest  the  side  of  her  head  when 
sleep  came  on, —  not  burying  her  face  in  the  cushions,  but 

259 


260          AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

turning  it  to  the  left  side  so  as  to  be  able  to  breathe  during 
the  trance.  If  it  ever  happened  that  the  pillows  incommoded 
the  breathing,  they  had  to  be  adjusted  and  pressed  down 
by  the  experimenter  in  charge,  so  that  air  obtained  free 
access  to  the  mouth  and  nose.  On  the  right  hand  side  of 
the  pillows,  either  on  the  same  or  on  a  small  subsidiary 
table,  the  writing  materials  were  arranged,  namely  a  large 
pad  or  block-book  (10"  X  8")  of  100  blank  sheets  all 
numbered  in  order,  and  four  or  five  pencils  of  soft  lead, 
2  B  or  3  B,  properly  cut  and  ready. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  experimenter  in  charge  to  record 
all  that  the  sitter  said.  This  could  generally  be  done  side- 
ways on  the  same  sheet  without  interfering  with  the 
medium's  hand.  He  also  had  to  arrange  the  pad  so  that 
the  hand  could  conveniently  write  upon  it;  and  to  tear 
off  the  sheets  as  they  were  done  with.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  economise  paper;  the  automatic  writing  was  large 
and  scrawling,  and  did  not  often  begin  at  the  top  of  the 
page.  Sometimes  a  good  deal  of  writing  was  obtained  on 
a  single  page,  sometimes  only  a  few  lines,  and  occasionally 
only  a  few  words.  The  tearing  off  of  the  old  sheet  was 
quickly  done;  and  the  hand  waited  the  moment  necessary; 
though  sometimes,  when  in  the  midst  of  an  energetic  mes- 
sage, it  indicated  momentary  impatience  at  the  interruption. 

Mrs.  Piper  and  her  daughters  often  had  breakfast  with 
the  family,  though  occasionally  she  breakfasted  in  her  room. 
On  ordinary  days  she  went  shopping  or  sight-seeing,  or  was 
otherwise  ordinarily  occupied;  but  on  sitting  days  she  went 
back  after  breakfast  to  her  own  room  to  be  quiet.  At  the 
time  fixed  for  the  sitting,  say  10  or  10.30  a.  m.,  Mrs.  Piper 
came  into  the  arranged  room  and  seated  herself  in  the  chair 
in  front  of  the  pillows;  then  the  experimenter  in  charge  sat 
down  on  a  chair  near  the  table,  leaving  a  vacant  chair  be- 


RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS  261 

tween  him  and  the  medium,  for  the  sitter;  who  at  my  sittings 
was  sometimes  present  from  the  first,  but  at  those  held  in 
London  was  introduced  only  after  the  trance  had  come  on. 
Mrs.  Piper  sat  with  her  hands  on  the  pillows  in  front  of  her; 
about  five  minutes  of  desultory  conversation  followed,  then 
heavy  breathing  began,  and  the  head  of  the  medium  pres- 
ently dropped  on  to  her  hands  on  the  pillows  and  turned 
itself  with  its  face  to  the  left. 

Then  almost  at  once  the  right  hand  disengaged  itself 
and  fell  on  the  table  near  the  writing  materials.  After 
about  30  seconds  of  complete  quiescence,  this  hand  alone 
"  woke  up  "  as  it  were;  it  slowly  rose,  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in-  the  air,  and  indicated  that  it  was  ready  to  write. 

The  experimenter  then  gave  the  hand  a  pencil,  placing  it 
between  fore  and  middle  fingers;  it  was  at  once  grasped,  and 
writing  began.  First  a  cross  was  drawn,  and  then  the  word 
"  Hail  "  was  written,  followed  usually  by  "  We  return  to 
earth  this  day  with  joy  and  peace  " ;  or  "  We  greet  you 
friend  of  earth  once  again,  we  bring  peace  and  love  " ;  or 
some  such  semi-religious  phrase,  signed  "  R,"  which  stands 
for  "  Rector  "  the  ostensible  amanuensis. 

In  the  old  days  the  control  had  styled  itself  "  Phinuit  " ; 
now  Phinuit  never  appears,  and  the  control  calls  itself 
Rector. 

In  the  old  days  the  tone  was  not  so  dignified  and  icrious 
as  it  is  now:  it  could  in  fact  then  be  described  as  rather 
humourous  and  slangy ;  but  there  was  a  serious  under-current 
constantly  present  even  then;  the  welcomes  and  farewells 
were  quaint  and  kindly  —  even  affectionate  at  times  —  and 
nothing  was  ever  said  of  a  character  that  could  give  offence. 
I  judge  that  stupid  familiarity  or  frivolity  on  the  part  of 
a  sitter  —  for  which,  however,  there  was  no  excuse  — 
would  have  been  at  once  rebuked  and  checked. 


262  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

In  the  old  days  the  going  into  trance  seemed  rather  a 
painful  process,  or  at  least  a  process  involving  muscular 
effort;  there  was  some  amount  of  contortion  of  the  face,  and 
sometimes  a  slight  tearing  of  the  hair;  and  the  same  actions 
accompanied  the  return  of  consciousness.  Now  the  trance 
seems  nothing  more  than  an  exceptionally  heavy  sleep,  en- 
tered into  without  effort  —  a  sleep  with  the  superficial  ap- 
pearance of  that  induced  by  chloroform;  and  the  return  to 
consciousness,  though  slow  and  for  a  time  accompanied  by 
confusion,  is  easy  and  natural. 

A  sitting  used  to  last  only  about  an  hour;  and  on  the  rare 
occasions  when  there  is  a  voice  sitting  now,  an  hour  is  the 
limit;  but  a  writing  sitting  seems  less  of  a  strain,  and  was 
often  allowed  to  last  as  much  as  two  hours,  though  not 
more. 

In  the  old  days,  when  sittings  were  more  frequent,  there 
were  degrees  of  intensity  about  them.  Occasionally,  though 
rarely,  trance  declined  to  come  on  at  all ;  and  sometimes,  even 
when  it  did,  the  loss  of  consciousness  seemed  less  than  com- 
plete. Under  present  conditions  the  trance  is  undoubtedly 
profound,  and  the  suspension  of  normal  consciousness  un- 
mistakably complete.  Once,  but  only  once  in  my  recent  ex- 
perience, the  trance  refused  to  come  on,  and  the  attempt  at 
a  sitting  had  to  be  abandoned  till  next  day. 

Usually  after  purposely  placing  herself  under  the  familiar 
conditions  to  which  she  is  accustomed,  Mrs.  Piper  is  able 
to  let  herself  go  off,  without  trouble  or  delay. 

Great  care  was  taken  of  the  body  of  the  medium,  both 
now  and  previously,  by  the  operating  intelligence.  She  was 
spoken  of  usually  as  "  the  light,"  sometimes  as  "  the 
machine,"  though  the  word  "  machine  "  commonly  signified 
only  the  pencil. 

If  anything  went  wrong  with  the  breathing,  or  if  there 


RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS  263 

was  insufficient  air  in  the  room,  or  if  the  cushions  slipped  so 
as  to  make  the  attitude  uncomfortable,  the  hand  wrote 
"  something  wrong  with  the  machine,"  or  "  attend  to  the 
light,"  or  something  of  that  sort;  and  the  experimenter 
amended  the  arrangements  before  the  writing  went  on. 
The  whole  thing  was  as  sensible  and  easy  as  possible,  as 
soon  as  the  circumstances  and  conditions  were  understood. 
Each  experimenter,  of  course,  handed  down  all  the  informa- 
tion and  Hodgsonian  tradition  of  this  kind  to  the  next,  so 
that  all  the  conditions  to  which  Mrs.  Piper  was  accustomed 
could  be  supplied  beforehand,  and  so  that  no  injury  would 
happen  to  her  bodily  health. 

The  following  illustrates  the  care  taken  of  the  physical 
conditions  and  the  way  they  are  spoken  of.  It  is  an  extract 
from  a  sitting  held  by  Mr.  Dorr  at  Boston  in  1906. 

(Rector  interrupting  a  "Hodgson"  communication.)  Friend,  you 
will  have  to  change  the  conditions  a  moment. 

[At  the  beginning  of  the  sitting  only  one  of  the  two  windows  in  the 
room  was  open  a  very  little  way.  A  few  moments  previous 
to  this  time  H.  J.  Jr.  noticing  that  the  room  was  a  little 
close  had  opened  the  other  window,  and  G.  B.  D.  had  nearly 
closed  it  again.] 

G.  B.  D.     What  is  wrong  with  the  conditions?     Do  you  want  more 

air  or  less? 

Well,  there  will  have  to  be  a  change  in  the  surroundings,  there 
will  have  to  be  more  strength,  what  is  it,  air,  yes,  air.  And 
a  good  deal  more  just  now.  Hodgson  takes  a  good  deal 
of  strength  when  he  comes,  but  he  is  all  right,  he  under- 
stands the  methods  of  operation  very  well.  (The  window 
was  now  opened  wide.)  That  is  better.  Now  the  light 
begins  to  get  clear.  All  right,  friend. 

As  the  time  drew  near  to  the  two-hour  limit,  which  has 
been  set  as  a  period  beyond  which  it  is  undesirable  to  persist, 


264  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

and  sometimes  at  the  end  of  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  or 
an  hour  and  three  quarters,  from  the  commencement,  the  ex- 
perimenter in  charge  gave  a  hint  that  the  sitting  must 
terminate  soon;  or  else  the  controls  indicate  the  same  thing, 
and  they  then  begin  to  clear  up  and  take  farewell.  A  sitting 
usually  concludes  as  it  began,  with  the  writing  of  a  serious 
sentence  invoking  the  blessing  of  the  Most  High  upon  the 
sitter  and  the  group. 

The  coming  out  of  the  trance  was  gradual,  and  semi- 
consciousness  lasted  for  several  minutes,  during  which 
muttered  sentences  were  uttered,  and  the  eyes,  if  open  at  all, 
only  glared  in  sleep-walking  fashion;  until  almost  suddenly 
they  took  on  a  natural  appearance,  and  Mrs.  Piper  became 
herself.  Even  then,  however,  for  half  an  hour  or  so  after 
the  trance  had  disappeared,  the  medium  continued  slightly 
dazed  and  only  partly  herself.  During  this  time  her  eldest 
daughter  usually  took  charge  of  her.  But  the  trance  itself 
was  so  familiar  to  them  all  that  the  daughters  were  not  the 
least  anxious,  and  in  another  room  went  on  with  their  letters 
or  needlework  unconcerned.  After  a  sitting,  one  of  them 
was  usually  called  and  took  her  mother  for  a  stroll  in  the 
garden.  Then  everybody  had  lunch  together  and  talked  of 
ordinary  topics,  nothing  being  said  about  the  sitting,  and  no 
ill  result  of  any  kind  being  experienced.  It  seemed  a  normal 
function  in  her  case.  The  experimenter  meanwhile  had 
collected  the  papers  and  arranged  them  in  order,  and  had 
removed  the  pencils  and  other  appliances.  Subsequently  it 
was  his  business  to  write  out  legibly  all  the  material  ac- 
cumulated during  the  two  hours  of  sitting,  to  annotate  it 
sufficiently,  and  send  it  to  a  typewriter. 

The  actual  record  is  of  course  preserved  for  exact 
reference  whenever  necessary.  A  record  was  also  made  of 
the  remarks  of  Mrs.  Piper  during  the  period  of  awaking 


RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS  265 

from  trance.  These  were  more  or  less  mumbled  and 
difficult  to  hear,  but  they  were  often  a  continuation  of  what 
had  been  obtained  during  trance,  and  generally  contained 
useful  passages;  though  part  of  them  nearly  always  con- 
sisted of  expressions  of  admiration  for  the  state  or  experi- 
ence she  was  leaving,  and  of  repulsion  —  almost  disgust  — 
at  the  commonplace  terrestrial  surroundings  in  which  she 
found  herself.  Even  a  bright  day  was  described  as  dingy 
or  dark,  and  the  sitter  was  stared  at  in  an  unrecognising 
way,  and  described  as  a  dull  and  ugly  person,  or  sometimes  as 
a  negro.  Presently,  however,  the  eyes  became  intelligent, 
and  she  recognised  some  one  —  usually  Lady  Lodge  first 
—  and  then  with  a  smile  welcomed  her  by  name,  and  speedily 
came  to. 

Coming  to  ordinary  social  details :  it  is  not  an  impertinence, 
but  is  justified  by  the  special  circumstances  of  the  case,  to 
state  that  the  family  is  an  admirable  one,  and  that  we  re- 
gard them  as  genuine  friends. 

At  the  time  of  Mrs.  Piper's  first  visit  her  daughters  were 
children.  Now  they  are  grown  up,  and  are  very  useful  to 
their  mother.  Nothing  in  any  way  abnormal  or  unusual  is 
to  be  noticed  about  them,  and  their  mother  expresses  it  as 
her  sincerest  wish  that  they  will  not  develop  her  power. 
For  though  she  must  realise  the  value  of  her  services  to 
science,  she  cannot  but  feel  that  it  to  some  extent  isolates  her 
and  marks  her  out  as  peculiar  among  her  neighbours  in 
New  England,  and  that  the  time  spent  in  the  trance  state 
must  have  made  a  distinct  inroad  on  her  available  lifetime. 
This  however  is  to  some  extent  the  case  with  any  occupation, 
and  it  is  as  the  duty  specially  allotted  to  her  that  she  has 
learnt  to  regard  her  long  service,  now  extending  over  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 

In  speaking  of  messages  received  from  a  certain  "  con- 


266  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

trol,"  it  is  not  to  be  understood  in  general  that  that  control 
is  actually  manipulating  the  organism;  it  may  be  always, 
and  certainly  is  in  general,  merely  dictating  through  an 
amanuensis  as  it  were, —  the  actual  writer  or  speaker  being 
either  "  Rector "  or  "  Phinuit,"  who  again  may  or  may 
not  be  a  phase  of  Mrs.  Piper's  personality. 

In  the  old  days,  undoubtedly,  the  appearance  was  some- 
times as  if  the  actual  control  was  changed  —  after  the  fash- 
ion of  a  multiple  personality;  where  as  now  I  think  it  is 
nearly  always  Rector  that  writes,  recording  the  messages 
given  to  him  as  nearly  as  he  can,  and  usually  reporting  in 
the  first  person,  as  Phinuit  often  did.  I  do  not  attempt  to 
discriminate  between  what  is  given  in  this  way  and  what 
is  given  directly,  because  it  is  practically  impossible  to  do 
so  with  any  certainty;  since  what  appears  to  be  direct  con- 
trol is  liable  to  shade  off  into  obvious  reporting.  That  is 
to  say,  if  a  special  agency  gets  control  and  writes  for  a 
few  minutes,  it  does  not  seem  able  to  sustain  the  position 
long,  but  soon  abandons  it  to  the  more  accomplished  and 
experienced  personality,  Rector.  In  the  recent  series  there 
appeared  very  little  evidence  of  direct  control  other  than 
Rector. 

We  shall  speak  however  of  the  "  Gurney  control,"  "  the 
Hodgson  control,"  etc.,  without  implying  that  these  agents 
—  even  assuming  their  existence  and  activity  —  are  ever 
really  in  physical  possession  of  the  organism;  and,  even 
when  they  are  controlling  as  directly  as  possible,  they  may 
perhaps  always  be  operating  telepathically  on  it  rather  than 
telergically  —  operating,  that  is  to  say,  through  some 
stratum  of  the  mind,  rather  than  directly  on  any  part  of  the 
physical  organism.  It  is  rather  soon  as  yet  to  make  definite 
assertions  regarding  the  actual  method  of  control, —  there 
are  too  many  unknown  quantities  about  the  whole  phenome- 


RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS  267 

non, —  at  the  same  time  Dr.  Hodgson  has  thought  it  worth 
while  to  report  the  general  aspect  of  the  phenomenon  as 
it  is  said  to  appear  to  the  Communicators  themselves;  he 
does  this  on  page  400  of  Proc.  xiii.  (A  portion  is  quoted 
below  on  page  247.)  And  in  the  next  few  pages  he  goes 
on  to  indicate  his  own  independent  view  of  what  is  occurring, 
giving  a  detailed  description  which  my  own  smaller  experi- 
ence, as  far  as  it  goes,  tends  in  a  general  way  to  confirm. 
Readers  interested  in  these  particulars  may  here  conveniently 
refer  to  further  remarks  on  the  subject  in  Chapter  XL 

In  the  old  days  Mrs.  Piper  sat  upright  in  her  chair,  with 
head  somewhat  bowed  and  eyes  closed,  and  with  both  hands 
available  for  holding  objects  or  a  hand  of  the  sitter.  Now 
her  head  reclines  throughout  on  a  cushion,  with  her  face 
turned  away.  The  right  hand  alone  is  active,  being  en- 
gaged nearly  all  the  time  in  writing,  with  intervals  of  what 
looks  like  listening.  The  dramatic  activity  of  the  hand  is 
very  remarkable:  it  is  full  of  intelligence,  and  can  be  de- 
scribed as  more  like  an  intelligent  person  than  a  hand.  It 
turns  itself  to  the  sitter  when  it  wants  to  be  spoken  to  by 
him ;  but  for  the  most  part,  when  not  writing,  it  turns  itself 
away  from  the  sitter,  as  if  receiving  communications  from 
outside,  which  it  then  proceeds  to  write  down;  going  back 
to  the  space  —  i.  e.,  directing  itself  to  a  part  of  the  room 
where  nobody  is  —  for  further  information  and  supplemen- 
tary intelligence,  as  necessity  arises.  (C.  F.  p.  134.) 

When  Mrs.  Piper  in  trance  wrote  a  name  in  the  old  days 
—  as  Phinuit  did  sometimes  —  the  writing  was  usually 
mirror-writing;  but  sometimes  she  wrote  a  name  on  paper 
held  to  her  forehead,  so  that  the  pencil  was  turned  towards 
her  face  in  that  case  the  writing  was  ordinary.  If  this 
should  happen  to  have  been  so  consistently,  it  is  curious. 
But  now  that  Rector  writes,  voluminously,  the  mirror-writing 


268  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

only  crops  up  occasionally ;  and  usually  the  only  reversal  con- 
sists in  giving  the  letters  of  a  name  in  inverted  order,  e,  g., 
Knarf  instead  of  Frank. 

One  other  point  deserves  to  be  here  mentioned: — 
In  the  days  of  Phinuit  considerable  facility  was  shown 
in  dealing  with  strangers.  Persons  introduced  anonymously 
had  their  relations  enumerated,  and  their  family  affairs 
referred  to,  in  a  remarkably  quick  and  clever  way :  so  much 
so  that  they  sometimes  thought  that  their  special  case  must 
have  been  "  got  up  "  beforehand.  The  facility  for  dealing 
with  strangers  in  this  way  is  now  much  less  marked.  The 
introduction  of  a  stranger  now  makes  things  slow  and  labori- 
ous, and  is  on  the  whole  discouraged;  for  although  the  old 
characteristics  continue  to  some  extent,  the  tests  now  given 
are  mainly  of  a  different  kind.  The  early  procedure  was 
useful  at  the  beginning,  and  it  continued  useful  for  a  good 
many  years  till  a  case  of  investigation  was  firmly  established; 
but  it  must  have  seemed  tedious  to  prolong  that  method 
further,  so  the  group  of  controls  associated  with  Rector 
assured  Dr.  Hodgson  that  they  would  take  the  trance  in 
hand  and  develop  it  on  better  and  higher  lines. 

As  to  how  far  the  change  is  an  improvement,  there  have 
been  at  times  some  differences  of  opinion ;  but  in  view  of  the 
remarkable  tests  recently  given  under  what,  though  of  several 
years'  standing,  maybe  called,  the  new  regime  —  tests  which 
have  been  and  are  being  dissected  out  by  Mr.  Piddington  — 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt  about  the  reality  of  the  improve- 
ment now. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL 

I  SHALL  first  take  as  an  example  of  the  present  style  of 
communication  a  continuation  of  the  case  of  the  Isaac 
Thompson  family,  which  is  referred  to  on  pp.  223 
and  259. 

Members  of  this  family  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Mrs.  Piper,  as  there  stated,  during  her  stay  with  us  in  Liver- 
pool in  1890.  In  the  interim  in  1903  Isaac  Thompson  had 
died,  and  they  were  anxious  to  get  into  communication  with 
him  if  possible. 

The  first  attempt  at  reaching  this  control  through  Mrs. 
Piper  occurred  during  a  business  visit  of  the  son,  Edwin 
Thompson,  to  America  in  1906;  when  Dr.  Hodgson  in- 
troduced him  as  a  stranger  —  not  by  name  —  to  Mrs.  Piper 
in  trance  at  her  house  near  Boston. 

The  effort  was,  I  consider,  not  really  successful;  partly  in 
all  probability  owing  to  the  inexperience  of  the  sitter.  The 
position  is  a  very  difficult  one.  He  had  had  no  previous  ex- 
perience of  the  sittings;  because  in  1889,  when  Mrs.  Piper 
was  in  Liverpool,  he  was  only  eight  years  old.  Besides, 
the  character  of  the  sittings  had  changed,  and  the  writing 
of  Rector  is  not  at  all  easy  for  a  novice  to  read. 

Suffice  it  therefore  to  say  that  Edwin  Thompson  was  in- 
troduced anonymously  by  Dr.  Hodgson  after  the  trance  had 
begun  on  Monday,  nth  December  1905,  at  Boston. 
Messages  purported  to  come  from  his  father,  who  seemed 
to  wonder  how  his  son  had  "  managed  to  find  him."  It 

269 


270  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

was  however  a  poor  sitting,  and  evidentially  is  best  treated 
as  nearly  blank. 

Undoubtedly  there  ought  to  have  been  another  sitting 
without  delay,  to  clear  up  this  unsatisfactory  interview, 
which  clearly  established  nothing  whatever ;  though  I  believe 
that  Mr.  E.  Thompson  is  on  the  whole  more  satisfied  with 
it  than  these  remarks  of  mine  would  suggest;  but  unfortu- 
nately he  had  to  return  to  England  immediately,  and  at  the 
next  sitting  he  was  not  present.  From  some  points  of  view 
—  however  unfortunate  it  undoubtedly  was  —  this  absence 
of  any  connecting  link  at  ensuing  sittings  held  by  Dr.  Hodg- 
son or  others  in  America,  may  be  held  to  strengthen  the 
evidence,  provided  anything  further  was  obtained  —  as  it 
was;  since  now  the  facts  could  hardly  be  supposed  to  be  ob- 
tained from  the  sitter ;  American  strangers  naturally  knowing 
nothing  about  the  family,  and  Dr.  Hodgson  being  a  com- 
plete stranger  to  them  all,  except  E.  T.  whose  slight  ac- 
quaintance he  had  only  just  made. 

The  sitter  on  I2th  December  1905,  was  a  Miss  M.,  who 
the  same  evening  sent  a  special  delivery  letter  to  Dr.  Hodg- 
son conveying  a  message  entrusted  to  her  by  the  control 
George  Pelham.  She  wrote: — 

"  '  There  was  a  message  for  you,'  George  saith.  '  Tell  Hodgson 
that  name  the  gentleman  in  the  spirit  tried  to  get  was 
Agnes.'  They  said  you  would  know,  and  it  was  the  day 
before." 

This  evidently  refers  to  a  name  "  Anna  "  attempted  near 
the  end  of  the  omitted  sitting.  The  name  Agnes  is  quite 
appropriate  —  being  the  name  of  a  daughter  —  and  would 
have  been  jumped  at  by  Edwin  Thompson  if  it  had  occurred 
while  he  was  present  as  sitter.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
"  Agnes  "  was  a  name  that  Phinuit  in  the  old  days  had  always 


THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL      271 

boggled  over,  pretending  he  could  not  pronounce  it;  his  best 
attempt  being  something  like  Annese  or  Anyese,  see  vol.  vi., 
p.  478;  but  when  taken  unawares  he  could  pronounce  it  well 
enough,  though  he  quickly  changed  it  to  Adnes  before  re- 
peating it.  (See  p.  509,  vol.  vi.,  Proc.  S.  P.  R.) 

On  the  next  day,  I3th  December  1905,  Dr.  Hodgson  had 
a  sitting;  when  Rector,  after  script  relating  to  other  matters 
had  been  obtained,  wrote  as  reported  below : — 

Sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  America,  i^th  December  1905. 
Present  —  Dr.  R.  Hodgson  alone. 

Didst  thou  receive  the  message  from  George? 
R.  H.  Yes,  last  night,  thank  you. 

Have  you  the  influences  of  the  young  man's  father? 
R.  H.  No. 

It  seems  almost  an  injustice  to  us  not  to  have  met  him  once 
more,  as  it  would  be  a  great  help  to  the  communicator 
himself  and  all  on  our  side. 

R.  H.  I  have  explained  all  to  him,  and  he  will  send  me  some  articles 
of  his  father  after  he  returns  to  England.  He  had  no 
more  time  here,  and  is  already  on  his  way  back.  He  had 
no  opportunity,  before  leaving  home,  to  know  what  he 
ought  to  do. 

We  understand,  and  since  the  spirit  is  now  waiting  with  our 
good  and  faithful  co-worker  George  [Pelham]  we  shall 
after  preliminary  matters  are  cleared  up  listen  to  what 
he  hath  to  say. 
R.H.  I  shall  be  glad. 

That  young  man  hath  some  significant  light  himself. 
(Scrawls  were  now  made,  ending  "  help  me.") 
R.  H.  Kindly  tell  me  anything  you  wish. 

I   hold    this   bottle   in   my  hand    for   identification.     ... 

Bottle    ...     in  my  hand. 
R.  H.  Yes? 

I  had  much  to  do  with  them  when  in  your  world. 


272  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

R  H.  Who  are  you? 

I  used  to  be  address  [sic]  Dr.     I  got. 

[He  had  medical  ambitions,  and  was  partner  in  Thompson  & 
Capper.     O.  J.  L.] 

(G.  P.  communicating.)      He  is  trying  very  hard.     Let  him 
dream  it  out  H  and  he  will  be  all  right. 

If  he  says  anything  clearly,  congratulate  him,  help  him  by 
words  of  encouragement  only,  remember  he  has  nothing 
or  no  one  except  yourself  to  attract  him  here. 
R.  H.  Yes.     Is  he  the  young  man's  father? 

He  is  surely.     Agnes  is  his  daughter. 
R.H.  Yes? 

So  he  tells  me. 
R.H.  Shall  I  talk  to  him? 

Just  encourage  him  a  little  by  telling  him  who  you  are,  etc., 

what  your  object  is,  etc.     It  will  help  him  greatly. 
R.  H.  I  will  explain  in  answer  to  your  inquiry  who  I  am, —  that  I 
am  an  old  friend  of  Professor  Lodge. 

LODGE. 
R.H.  Yes. 

What  my  old  neighbour  in  Lrv.     .     .     . 

(Excitement  in  hand  which  cramps  and  twists  about.) 

calm  friend     (Between  sp.) 

Li    ... 

(Excitement  stops  the  writing  again.) 

Drugs    .     .     . 

Do  not  go.    Wait  for  me. 

LIVERSTOOL. 
R.  H.  Liverpool,  you  mean. 

I  say  so. 

I  say  say     I  say  so     I  say  so    I  say  so  [sic.]     ... 
R.  H.  Yes  I  understand. 

I  say  so. 

Liverstool  [Livestool?] 
R.  H.  Liver-pool. 

POOL.    R[R=Rector.] 


THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL      273 

I  live     I  live     I  had  three  daughters  one  son  [true] 

(scrawls  over  sheet)     .     .     . 
I  want  to  help  them  all  all  all.     God  help  me  to  help  them  to 

understand  that  I  am  alive. 
R.H.  Yes? 

I  am  confused  [con fussed]  No  doubt  but  I  will  be  better 
soon  it  is  so  hard  to  understand.  You  look  so  heavy, 
a  black  cloud  comes  over  you  and  I  can  scarcely  see  you. 
Do  you  know  me? 

R.  H.  I  do  not  know  you  personally,  but  I  now  know  your  son  who 
came  with  me.  Did  you  not  see  the  lady  in  England 
with  Professor  Lodge  through  whom  you  are  now  com- 
municating? I  mean  the  light? 

Oh  I  cannot  tell  you  yet,  wait  until  I  find  my  way  about. 
R.  H.  Don't     .     .     . 

Tell  me  all  about  y<  arself  first,  I  want  to  get  acquainted 

with  you. 
R.  H.  Yes  I  will.     Kindly  listen. 

I'll  do  my  best,  because  I  want  to  reach  my  family,  very  very 

much. 

R.  H.   I  am  interested  in  psychical  work  and  sent  Mrs.  Piper  many 
years  ago  to  England, —  don't  you  remember  seeing  Mrs. 
Piper? 
Piper? 
R.  H.  Yes,  and  the    ... 

(Perturbation  in  hand) 
Oh  yes  I  remember  Piper.     Was  Mrs.  Piper  a  Medium,  an 

American  lady? 
R.H.  Yes. 

Oh  yes     Oh  yes  I  do     I  do,  but  I'll  find  her  out  and  come  to 

you  if  it  is  a  possible  thing.     What  is  your  name? 
R.  H.  My  name  is  Hodgson,  Richard  Hodgson. 

Can't  you  spell  it  for  me? 
R.  H.  Hodgson. 

Oh  he  is  telling  me — thank  you  greatly. 
Let  me  think. 


274          AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

I  am  so  anxious  to  understand  all  about  this  then  I  can  talk 

with  you. 
R.  H.  Well,  now,  Mr.     ... 

-  Where  are  we  ?     I  left  my  body  some  time  ago.    Where  are 

you? 
R.  H.  This  is  America  where  I  am  now. 

America? 
R.H.  Yes. 

Well  well  that  is  very  interesting  to  me. 
You  are  in  the  body? 
R.  H.  Yes  I  am. 

Well  ?     happy  ? 
R.  H.  Yes,  both,  thank  you. 

Splendid     I  begin  to  understand. 
R.  H.  Well  now  I  will  tell  you  more  about  myself  and  Lodge. 

My  wife  is  better  thank  you.     I  am  watching  over  them.     But 
my  business  will  be  better  in  time.     I  am  trying  to  take 
care  of  it  for  the  children. 
R.  H.  Yes.     Mr.     .     .     .     did  you    [say]    that  there  were  three 

daughters  and  one  son  in  the  body  ? 
Yes    ... 
My  wife  wore  glasses    .    .    .    spectacles  we  called  them  I 

think. 
R.  H.  You  mentioned  her  eye  trouble. 

Oh  may  be  so,  it  was  on  my  mind. 
Who  is  the  lady  with  my  boy? 
R.  H.  I  don't  know  anything  about  her. 
No     ... 

Well  I  understand.     I  had  a  business  called     . 
sounds  like  DRUGS. 
I  am  helping  all  I  can  [this  was  evidently  Rector] 

(Hand  to  Sp.  i.) 
he  must  rest     -f-     .     .     .     [this  is  the  signature  of  Impera- 

tor] 

R.  H.  I  shall  be  so  pleased  for  you  to  come  again  and  send  any 
messages  you  wish  to  your  family. 


THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL      275 

he  will  return  in  a  moment  friend  but  I  command  him  to  go 
for  a  moment.  -|-R. 

(Thump  of  hand.) 
Mrs.     .     .     .     kindly 

Your  friend  George  is  the  very  best  helper  we  have. 
R.  H.   I  am  very  grateful  to  him. 

Did  his  spirit  seem  any  clearer?  R. 

R.  H.  Yes  I  should  judge  that  he  will  probably  be  a  very  clear  com- 
municator shortly. 

talk  with  him  in  general  when  he  comes  whether  he  gives  you 
a  chance  or  not.     .     .     .     chance  or  not     .     .     .     he  is 
very  earnest  but  he  does  not  understand  yet  our  methods. 
R.H.  No. 

I  say  I  shall  return  and  help  you. 
was  very  very  glad  I  came. 
R.  H.  Thank  you  very  much. 

I  could  not  understand  while  you  were  here  but  I  could  see 

him  after  you  left.     T 

R.  H.  I  understand. 

Waking  Stage. 

(During  the  waking  stage  Mrs.  Piper  said) 
.     .     .     Thompson  [sic.]     .     .     .     with  you  all. 

[This  was  the  first  time  the  name  had  been  mentioned.] 
Before  I  let  you  go    ...    you  must  take  this  over  to  Mr. 

Hodgson. 
Tell  him     .     .     . 
R.H.   "Tell  him"? 

Tell  Mrs.  Thompson  I'm  very  glad  to  be  here.     It  is  better 

so.     I  am  grateful  for  all  God  has  done  to  help  me. 
.     .     .     the  truth  will  find  its  way. 
Farewell,     fare  thee  well     .     .     .     peace    .    .    . 

(Pause.) 

There  were  two  gentlemen  resembling  each  other.  One  was 
George,  the  other  was  another  man  looked  something  like 
him. 


276          AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

This  is  an  improvement  on  what  had  been  obtained  at 
the  sitting  before,  and  indicates  considerable  anxiety  on  the 
part  of  the  Isaac  Thompson  control  to  manifest  himself, 
since  this  time  he  had  to  overcome  the  difficulty  of  talking 
to  a  complete  stranger;  and  save  for  the  mention  of  my 
name  as  a  common  friend  of  Hodgson  and  himself,  it  is 
doubtful  if  anything  could  have  been  got.  The  excitement 
which  the  hand  displays,  as  here  at  the  mention  of  Lodge 
and  Liverpool,  is  characteristic.  On  such  occasions  it  twists 
and  squirms  about  and  frequently  breaks  the  point  of  the 
pencil  by  pressure  against  the  paper.  It  is  as  if  the  nerves 
conveyed  too  strong  a  stimulus  to  the  muscles,  so  that  until 
the  excitement  abates  no  writing  can  go  on. 

The  bottles  and  drugs  mentioned  are  symbolic  of  his  pro- 
fession. (See  p.  525,  Proc.  vol.  vi.,  and  cf.  a  similar  case 
near  foot  of  page  554,  vol.  vi.)  The  things  said  are  all 
true  and  appropriate. 

One  of  the  most  curious  episodes  is  the  way  in  which  Mrs. 
Piper's  name  is  introduced.  R.  Hodgson  says,  in  order  to 
introduce  himself, 

R.  H.  I  am  interested  in  psychical  work  and  sent  Mrs.  Piper  many 
years  ago  to  England, —  don't  you  remember  seeing  Mrs. 
Piper? 
Piper? 
R.  H.  Yes,  and  the    ... 

(Perturbation  in  hand.) 
Oh  yes  I  remember  Piper.     Was  Mrs.  Piper  a  Medium  an 

American  lady? 
R.H.  Yes. 

Oh  yes    oh  yes  I  do    I  do,  but  I'll  find  her  and  come  to  you 

if  it  is  a  possible  thing.     What  is  your  name? 
R.  H.  My  name  is  Hodgson,  Richard  Hodgson. 
Can't  you  spell  it  for  me? 


THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL      277 

R.  H.   Hodgson. 

Oh  he  is  telling  me     thank  you  greatly. 

The  perturbation  in  hand  thus  begins  again  when  the 
name  Piper  is  remembered,  and  then  the  Thompson  control 
speaks  of  her  as  a  medium  he  had  known,  and  says  he  will 
try  to  find  her  now  in  order  to  communicate. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  whole  thing  is  being  ob- 
tained through  Mrs.  Piper's  body,  the  curiosity  of  the  posi- 
tion is  obvious. 

The  sentence  "  Oh,  he  is  telling  me,  thank  you  greatly  " 
signifies  that  whereas  the  Thompson  control  had  been  try- 
ing to  understand  with  difficulty  what  Dr.  Hodgson  was 
saying,  he  was  now  being  told  on  his  own  side  by  G.  P.  or 
Rector,  whom  he  thanks, —  all  this  by-play  being,  now  as 
often,  automatically  recorded  by  the  writing  hand. 

The  way  in  which  he  receives  the  information  that  Hodg- 
son is  in  America, —  where  in  1884  Isaac  Thompson  had 
been  with  me  alone  for  nine  weeks, —  is  also  very  natural; 
and  his  inquiry  as  to  whether  Hodgson  is  a  living  person 
or  not  is  curious. 

It  is  quite  true  that  Mrs.  Thompson  wore  spectacles, 
though  of  course  this  was  within  Mrs.  Piper's  own  knowl- 
edge. In  the  previous  set  (p.  524,  vol.  vi.)  a  sister  of  Mr. 
Thompson's  was  represented  as  unfamiliar  with  them  and 
wanting  them  taken  off.  This  also  was  a  correct  apprehen- 
sion of  fact  at  the  date  referred  to. 

'  The  lady  with  my  boy  "  may  well  refer  to  his  son's 
engagement:  though  that  was  not  in  Mrs.  Piper's  normal 
knowledge,  and  presumably  not  in  Dr.  Hodgson's  either. 
But  of  course  this  sort  of  thing  can  be  guessed;  and  E.  T. 
in  his  own  sitting  had  clearly  hinted  it. 

In  fact  although  there  is  nothing  very  much  obtained,  and 


278  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

little  that  can  be  called  really  evidential,  because  of  Mrs. 
Piper's  previous  normal  knowledge, —  provided  any  clue  to 
the  particular  family  had  been  conveyed  during  Edwin 
Thompson's  sitting,  in  the  course  of  which,  though  he  had 
certainly  not  given  his  name,  I  observe  that  he  had  mentioned 
the  name  "  Theodora  "  and  also  spoken  of  "  the  business," 
—  there  is  nothing  that  is  inapplicable  or  foreign  to  the 
person  represented,  or  in  the  least  untrue,  as  soon  as  com- 
munication really  began;  and  there  is  much  in  the  dramatic 
details  that  I  find  distinctly  interesting. 

WAKING  STAGE 

While  coming  out  of  trance  Mrs.  Piper  usually  speaks,  or 
rather  mutters,  at  intervals ;  and  her  words  are  taken  down, 
or  such  of  them  as  can  be  heard.  It  is  worth  while  to  quote 
one  record  of  these  ejaculations  —  which  sometimes  convey 
interesting  residual  information, —  and  I  select  the  following 
as  a  fairly  typical  case  of  an  unimportant  and  unevidentiai 
but  characteristic  coming  to. 

Notes  intruded  in  square  brackets  are  added  merely  in 
order  to  place  the  reader  in  the  same  sort  of  position  as 
regards  understanding  the  significance  of  these  subconscious 
utterances  as  a  recorder  finds  himself  in  after  an  experience 
of  many  sittings. 

I  am  aware  that  such  explanations  may  irritate  a  certain 
group  of  people  who  have  been  all  their  lives  familiar  with 
trance  speeches  of  one  kind  or  another;  but  in  the  first  place 
I  must  beg  them  to  observe  that  when  I  explain  things  I 
am  not  assuming  ignorance  on  the  part  of  specialists.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  write  in  an  explanatory  fashion  on  any 
branch  of  even  the  most  orthodox  science  if  thereby  one  ran 
the  risk  of  offending  specialists.  In  ordinary  subjects  it  is 


THE  ISAAC  THOMPSON  CONTROL       279 

safe  silently  to  assume  that  experienced  people  will  under- 
stand that  their  knowledge  is  taken  for  granted.  Besides, 
trances  are  by  no  means  identical:  each  has  distinctive 
features.  Mrs.  Piper's  trance  has  itself  undergone  modifica- 
tion in  the  course  of  the  nineteen  years  since  I  first  knew  her; 
and  it  may  be  useful  to  quote  the  kind  of  phrases  employed 
by  her  during  recovery  —  if  only  as  a  psychological  study. 
They  are  seldom  identical,  but  they  have  a  strong  family 
likeness.  Here  then  they  are,  on  an  occasion  after  one  of 
the  sittings  with  the  Isaac  Thompson  family : — 

"  I  saw  you  before.  It  is  fearful.  [This  means  that  she 
dislikes  changing  from  her  trance  state  and  coming  back 
to  ordinary  surroundings.] 

They  are  going  away.  It's  awful.  Too  bad.  Snap.  [This 
refers  to  a  sensation  which  she  calls  a  snap  in  the  head, 
which  nearly  always  precedes  a  return  to  consciousness. 
Sometimes  it  heralds  almost  a  sudden  return;  and  she  is 
always  more  conscious  after  a  snap  than  she  was  before; 
but  often  it  takes  two  snaps  to  bring  her  completely  to. 
What  the  snap  is  I  do  not  know,  but  I  expect  it  is  some- 
thing physiological.  It  is  not  audible  to  others,  though 
Mrs.  Piper  half  seems  to  expect  it  to  be  so.] 

What  are  all  the  people  doing? 

[Probably  some  of  the  sitters  were  moving  about  and  leaving 
the  room,  under  the  mistaken  impression  that  the  snap 
meant  that  interest  was  over.] 

I  saw  a  man  in  the  light,  which  looked  like  Mr.  Thompson. 
Kept  waving  his  hand.  The  man  with  the  cross  was  help- 
ing him  out. 

["  The  man  with  the  cross  "  is  intended  to  signify  Imperator.] 

The  moon  was  shining  (or  it  may  have  been  the  '  sun.'  It 
only  signifies  that  her  recent  surroundings  have  been  bright 
and  luminous.] 

Has  an  old  lady  with  him.  She  is  helping  him  read  some- 
thing. I  could  see  his  face  perfectly. 


280  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

Noise,     [probably  something  going  on  outside.]     They  were 

talking  to  me.     I  came  in  on  a  cord,  a  silver  cord.     They 

were  trying  to  tell  me  something  about  the  children  in  the 

body.     Lovely  place. 
Buzzing  in  my  head.     Another  snap. 
Miss    Thompson.     I     thought    you    were    small.     Looking 

through  opera  glasses  at  wrong  end.     You   grew  larger. 

Did  you  hear  my  head  snap  ?     It  breaks. 
I  forgot  where  we  were  sitting. 
Why  Mrs.  Thompson,  I  didn't  know  you  were  there.     My 

cold." 
[Mrs.   Piper  was  troubled  with  a  cold  at  this  time.     Her 

intelligence  was  now  normal.] 

In  further  illustration  of  the  waking  stage,  showing  how 
similar  it  was  in  1906  to  what  it  is  now,  and  as  a  further 
description  of  the  curious  "  snap  "  sensation,  I  subjoin  an 
extract  from  the  termination  of  a  sitting  with  Henry  James, 
Junior  and  Mr.  Dorr  in  America  in  1906. 

I  thought  you  were  a  stranger. 

Well,  did  you  hear  my  head  snap? 
H.J.Jr.     No. 

Didn't  hear  it?    It  is  a  funny  sound.     Don't  you  hear  it  at 

all?     Sounds  like  wheels  clicking  together  and  then  snaps. 

There  it  is  again. 
G.  B.  D.     Now  you  are  really  back. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  PIPER  SITTINGS 

FOR  a  further  account  of  these  sittings  my  paper  in 
vol.  xxiii.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  must  be  referred  to.  It  would 
take  too  much  space  to  quote  further  here.  I  must  be 
satisfied  with  a  few  comments. 

It  is  noteworthy  how  natural  it  is  for  a  sitter  to  ignore 
all  the  normal  knowledge  which  Mrs.  Piper  must  un- 
doubtedly possess,  and  to  treat  her  as  a  separate  individual 
when  in  the  trance  state.  Her  controls  exhibit  the  same 
tendency;  and,  while  of  course  nothing  evidential  can  be 
made  to  depend  upon  the  supposition,  it  does  appear  to  be 
really  true  that  that  knowledge  has  little  or  no  influence  on 
the  knowledge  shown  by  the  controls. 

I  surmised  this  at  an  earlier  stage  —  as  recorded  on  page 
206,  and  subsequent  experience  has  only  confirmed  the  im- 
pression. 

As  a  minor  instance  of  this  fact  may  be  mentioned  the 
surprise  and  eagerness  shown  by  the  Isaac  Thompson  con- 
trol when  after  some  delay  he  was  told  that  Mrs.  Isaac 
Thompson  was  present  at  the  first  sitting  subsequently  held 
in  her  house  in  Liverpool.  For  of  course  Mrs.  Piper  had 
known  perfectly  well  the  people  likely  to  be  present  at  the 
sitting,  and  had  seen  them  assemble;  it  was  no  news  to  her. 
But  indeed  everything  tends  to  show  that  during  thorough 
trance  the  normal  consciousness  is  in  abeyance.  And,  al- 
though it  is  true  that  we  cannot  claim  anything  as  evidential 

281 


282  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

when  it  comes  out  in  the  trance  if  it  had  ever  been  known 
to  Mrs.  Piper,  I  myself  am  unable  to  trace  much,  if  any, 
connexion  between  the  trance  knowledge  and  her  normal 
knowledge.  For  instance,  a  sitter  introduced  by  name  is  no 
more  likely  to  have  his  name  mentioned  during  a  sitting  than 
one  who  is  introduced  as  an  anonymous  stranger.  I  make  a 
general  statement  of  this  kind  believing  that  careful  analysis 
will  bear  it  out,  and  as  a  challenge  to  anyone  who  will  be- 
stow time  and  labour  upon  the  work  of  analysing  the  records 
from  this  point  of  view.  It  seems  to  me  a  desirable  piece 
of  work  for  someone  to  undertake. 

Of  course  a  sceptic  may  say  that  this  kind  of  kenosis  is 
due  to  mere  cunning ;  but  the  time  for  suspicion  of  that  kind 
is  over  with  most  of  us  investigators.  It  is  a  genuine  piece 
of  psychological  information  that  we  now  desire,  not  any- 
thing analogous  to  detective  work.  Detective  work  is  neces- 
sary in  its  proper  time  and  place,  but  there  are  cases  which 
have  run  that  gauntlet,  and  require  more  advanced  treatment. 
The  Piper  case  is  one  of  them. 

When  I  speak  of  "  Mrs.  Piper's  normal  knowledge,"  I 
mean  of  course  knowledge  acquired  in  her  ordinary  state. 
Knowledge  acquired  while  in  the  trance  state  is  certainly 
reproducible  when  in  that  state,  but  it  appears  not  to  be  ac- 
cessible in  her  ordinary  state;  and  vice  versa.  I  do  not  call 
that  "  normal  knowledge." 

The  controls  themselves  feel  that  they  have  no  direct 
access  to  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper;  so,  if  they  want  to  com- 
municate with  her,  they  must  utilise  some  other  agency, — 
for  instance,  they  send  messages  through  her  own  daughter, 
with  whom  they  occasionally  communicate  during  trance. 
To  illustrate  this,  I  extract  a  small  fragment  from  a  quantity 
of  serious  conversation  which  took  place  between  them  and 
Dr.  Hodgson's  executors  soon  after  his  death.  Mr.  Dorr 


GENERAL  REMARKS  283 

was  conducting  the  sitting  and  speaking  the  remark  labelled 
G.  B.  D. 

G.  B.  D.  We  are  anxious  that  the  light  in  the  future  should  not  go 
adrift  and  astray,  and  anxious  that  past  relations  should 
not  be  wholly  interrupted  by  any  change  of  environment 
or  other.  Well,  no  one  could  be  more  anxious  about 
these  things  or  more  concerned  than  we  ourselves  are, 
and  it  hath  disturbed  us  not  a  little  to  see  the  conditions 
on  the  earthly  side.  We  are  not  quite  pleased  with  them, 
because  the  light  cannot  know  itself,  it  cannot  under- 
stand itself.  It  is  shut  off  from  communication  with  us 
on  our  side  and  it  must  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  meth- 
ods which  we  pursue  in  our  endeavours  to  reach  the  mor- 
tals on  the  earthly  side. 

G.  B.  D.  But  through  the  daughter,  Alta,  I  have  felt  that  you  might 

in  a  sense  reach  her. 
Yes,  that  is  the  only  way. 

I  do  not  adduce  this  as  evidence,  but  as  illustrative  of 
how  the  phenomenon  represents  itself;  for  when  it  does  so 
consistently  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  something  true 
is  indicated. 

It  will  be  observed  in  many  of  the  records  how  natural 
it  is  for  a  sitter,  or  for  the  experimenter  in  charge,  to 
challenge  a  "  control  "  to  furnish  some  evidence  of  his 
identity,  or  to  demand  from  him  a  sudden  answer  to  a 
specific  question. 

It  is  quite  natural,  and  I  suppose  inevitable:  but  that  it 
also  is  to  some  extent  unreasonable,  must  be  admitted. 
Trivial  domestic  incidents  are  not  constantly  in  one's 
thoughts,  and  only  when  in  a  reminiscent  and  holiday  mood, 
or  under  the  stimulus  of  friendly  chat,  does  any  vivid 
recollection  of  such  incidents  normally  occur. 

It   is  a   common   experience   that   characteristic   touches, 


284  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

specific  phrases  and  sparkling  sayings,  are  most  likely  to 
come  out  in  the  give  and  take  of  lively  conversation.  Silent 
and  solitary  brooding,  though  it  may  generate  valuable  and 
even  brilliant  ideas  in  a  few  cases,  does  not  as  a  rule,  lead  to 
anything  specially  personal,  or  identifying;  rather  the  con- 
trary,—  such  ideas  seem  to  spring  up  impersonally,  or  to 
be  supplied  from  outside,  so  to  speak. 

It  is  proverbially  difficult  to  control  thoughts  to  order, 
and  a  communicator  suddenly  asked  to  remember  an  identi- 
fying circumstance,  or  to  send  an  appropriate  message,  may 
feel  rather  as  a  person  feels  when  set  in  front  of  a  phono- 
graph and  told  to  "  say  something  brilliant  for  posterity." 
Under  these  conditions  anyone  with  the  gift  might  compose 
some  half-doggeral  verse  perhaps,  or  might  remember  some 
poetry  more  or  less  accurately, —  and  indeed  that  is  what 
it  appears  the  controls  sometimes  actually  do  —  but  usually 
there  would  be  hesitation,  requests  for  delay,  and  fishing  for 
suggestions, —  something  like  what  we  find  in  the  records. 
The  controls  unfortunately  cannot  be  assisted  by  the  give 
and  take  of  friendly  and  stimulating  conversation;  for,  under 
the  conditions  of  a  sitting,  the  intercourse  on  our  side  is 
nearly  all  "  take  "  and  very  little  "  give."  It  is  admittedly 
dangerous  for  a  sitter  to  talk  freely,  because  the  conditions 
then  become  "  loose,"  and  more  may  be  inadvertently  given 
away  than  was  intended,  so  that  thereafter  nothing  obtained, 
however  otherwise  good,  can  be  considered  evidential.  But 
then  —  it  must  also  be  admitted  —  no  conversation  can  be 
in  the  full  sense  stimulating  or  satisfactory  if  its  animation 
is  hampered  by  a  constant  desire  to  withhold  information, 
lurking  in  the  background. 

In  order  to  be  human  a  conversation  should  be  whole- 
hearted and  free  from  arrieres  pensees  on  both  sides:  but 
under  evidential  conditions  that  seems  quite  impossible.  It 


GENERAL  REMARKS  285 

is  one  of  the  many  disadvantages  under  which  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  subject  inevitably  labours. 


TRIVIAL  RECOLLECTIONS,  AND  RELICS 

It  will  by  some  people  —  who  might  otherwise  be  in 
favour  of  some  form  of  spiritistic  hypothesis  —  be  thought 
absurd  that  reference  should  be  made  under  such  circum- 
stances to  trifles  like  ordered  but  undelivered  pictures,  and 
to  trivialities  like  the  possession  of  a  handkerchief  or  other 
relic.  The  usual  excuse  is  that  these  things  are  mentioned 
for  purposes  of  identification;  but  though  there  may  be  some 
truth  in  that  view,  there  is  in  my  judgment  more  reason 
than  that  for  such  incidents;  and  they  are  not  contradictory 
of  the  notion  of  survival.  The  fate  of  objects  once  regarded 
with  affection,  or  even  interest,  and  possessing  any  kind  of 
personal  association,  does  not  seem  to  have  suddenly  be- 
come a  matter  of  indifference.  Scattered  through  all  the 
sittings  are  innumerable  instances  of  this  sort  of  curious 
memory  of  and  interest  in  trifles;  so  that  it  would  be  merely 
tedious  to  refer  to  pages  where  they  occur.  Every  experi- 
enced sitter  knows  that  such  references  are  the  commonest 
of  all.  What  is  the  explanation?  I  am  not  prepared  with 
a  full  explanation ;  but,  granted  the  most  completely  spiritistic 
hypothesis,  it  would  appear  that  the  state  after  death  is 
not  a  sudden  plunge  into  a  stately,  dignified,  and  specially 
religious  atmosphere.  The  environment,  like  the  character, 
appears  to  be  much  more  like  what  it  is  here  than  some  folk 
imagine.  This  may  be  due  to  the  effort  and  process  inci- 
dental to  the  condition  of  semi-return,  under  which  alone 
communication  is  possible:  it  appears  to  involve  something 
less  than  full  consciousness.  But  it  goes  rather  further  than 
this,  since  a  few  of  the  controls  when  recently  deceased  (a 


286  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

pious  old  lady  in  particular  is  in  my  mind)  have  said  that  the 
surroundings  were  more  "  secular  "  than  they  expected;  they 
have  indeed  expressed  themselves  as  if  a  little  disappointed, 
though  they  nearly  always  say  that  the  surroundings  are 
better  than  they  are  here.  Anyhow,  there  appears  to  be  no 
violent  or  sudden  change  of  nature ;  and  so  any  one  who  has 
cared  for  trinkets  may  perhaps  after  a  fashion  care  for  them 
still. 

But  there  must  be  more  than  that  even.  Objects  appear 
to  serve  as  attractive  influences,  or  nuclei,  from  which  in- 
formation may  be  clairvoyantly  gained.  It  appears  as  if  we 
left  traces  of  ourselves,  not  only  on  our  bodies,  but  on  many 
other  things  with  which  we  have  been  subordinately  associ- 
ated, and  that  these  traces  can  thereafter  be  detected  by  a 
sufficiently  sensitive  person.  This  opens  a  large  subject 
which  I  have  touched  upon  once  or  twice  already  in  other 
papers  —  never  with  any  feeling  of  certainty  or  security  — 
and  which  requires  careful  handling  lest  its  misunderstand- 
ing pave  the  way  for  mere  superstition. 

But  to  return  to  common  sense,  and  without  assuming 
anything  of  this  kind,  even  hypothetically,  how  do  we  know 
that  we  are  right  in  speaking  of  some  things  as  trifles  and 
other  things  as  important?  What  is  our  scale  or  standard 
of  value? 

No  one  expects  people  to  be  wholly  indifferent  as  to  the 
posthumous  disposal  of  their  property,  provided  it  amounts 
to  several  thousand  pounds.  They  make  careful  wills,  and 
would,  if  they  knew,  be  perhaps  displeased  if  the  provisions 
were  not  adhered  to,  or  if  their  final  will  was  lost. 

Very  well,  on  what  scale  shall  we  estimate  property,  and 
how  shall  we  measure  its  value? 

It  is  conceivable  that,  seen  from  another  side,  little  per- 


GENERAL  REMARKS  287 

sonal  relics  may  awaken  memories  more  poignant  than  those 
associated  with  barely  recollected  stocks  and  shares. 

That  at  any  rate  is  the  kind  of  idea  which  naturally  sug- 
gests itself  in  connexion  with  the  subject.  Our  terrestrial 
estimate  of  the  comparative  importance  of  things  is  not 
likely  to  be  cosmically  sufficient  or  perennially  true. 

However  that  may  be,  it  is  clear  that  the  various  Piper 
controls  do  not  estimate  the  importance  of  property  by  any 
standard  dependent  on  pounds  sterling.  As  a  variant  on 
old  letters,  old  lockets,  and  other  rubbish,  in  which  Phinuit 
seemed  to  take  some  interest,  I  once  gave  him  a  five-pound 
note.  It  was  amusing  to  see  how  at  first  he  tried  to  read  it 
—  in  his  usual  way  by  applying  it  to  the  top  of  the  medium's 
head; — and  then  on  realising  the  sort  of  thing  it  was,  how 
he  crumpled  it  up  and  flung  it  into  a  corner  with  a  grunt, 
holding  out  his  hand  for  something  of  interest.  Needless 
to  say,  I  did  not  share  in  this  estimate  of  value,  and,  after 
the  sitting,  was  careful  to  rescue  the  despised  piece  of  paper 
from  its  perilous  position. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  MYERS  CONTROL 

NOW  let  us  enter  upon  the  episodes  where  F.  W.  H. 
Myers  was  supposed  to  be  controlling,  or  at  least 
communicating,  while  I  was  present.  I  shall  be- 
gin, however,  with  communications,  received  not  through 
Mrs.  Piper,  but  through  other  mediums.  Most  of  the 
Piper-Myers  messages  were  obtained,  and  must  be  dealt  with, 
by  Mr.  Piddington;  because  they  often  involve  cross-corre- 
spondences, which  belong  to  his  department  of  the  work. 
Moreover,  in  the  recent  series  of  sittings  I  had  but  few 
conversations  with  the  Myers  control  as  modified  or  repre- 
sented by  Mrs.  Piper  —  what  we  call  the  "  Piper-Myers  " 
or  Myers?.  I  fear  I  did  not  give  him  many  chances,  and 
one  day  was  rather  rebuked  by  Rector  for  not  affording 
the  Myersp  control  more  opportunity  for  utterance.  This 
was  because  I  usually  had  something  else  ready  that  I  wanted 
to  try.  So  neither  from  MyersP  nor  from  HodgsonP  did 
I  get  very  much  in  these  recent  sittings. 
.  And  of  course  in  the  old  days,  1889-90,  both  had  been 
in  full  vigour  of  life. 

But  it  so  happens  that  long  before  Mrs.  Piper  arrived, 
and  very  soon  after  Mr.  Myers's  death,  I  had  had  a  couple 
of  unexpected  and  exceptional  sittings  with  the  well-known 
Mrs.  Thompson,  at  that  time  still  living  at  Hampstead. 
(It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  she  has  no  connexion 
with  the  Mrs.  Isaac  Thompson  referred  to  as  a  sitter  with 
Mrs.  Piper  in  previous  chapters.)  She  had  suspended 

288 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  289 

sitting  altogether;  but  she  kindly  allowed  myself  and  my  wife 
to  sit  twice  with  her, —  she  said  she  felt  impelled  to  do  so, 
—  on  two  occasions  when  she  happened  to  be  visiting  friends 
in  or  near  Birmingham. 

Mrs.  Thompson  was  so  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Myers 
and  his  family  that  no  evidential  importance  can  be  attached 
to  remarks  and  messages  concerning  that  family,  obtained 
through  her  mediumship,  however  natural  they  may  be. 
These  are  therefore  all  omitted.  Reference  to  trivial  facts 
and  domestic  affairs  are  good  as  evidence  only  in  the  case  of 
unknown  strangers:  in  other  cases  they  are  only  of  use  as 
contributing  to  the  dramatic  character  and  personal  expres- 
sion of  the  whole.  From  this  point  of  view  I  regret  some 
omissions,  which  nevertheless  have  been  considered  necessary. 

Mrs.  Thompson's  trance  Is  an  easy  trance,  not  so  complete 
or  striking  as  Mrs.  Piper's,  but  it  is  a  state  of  suspension, 
or  partial  suspension,  of  ordinary  consciousness,  and  is  ac- 
companied by  a  change  of  voice  and  manner. 

In  the  sitting  which  follows,  "  Myers  "  was  represented 
as  controlling  and  speaking  for  part  of  the  time,  but  the 
sittings  began  with  the  "  Nelly "  control,  and  when  the 
Myers  control  is  not  manifestly  intended  to  be  speaking,  the 
words  may  be  taken  as  emanating  either  from  Nelly  or  from 
one  or  other  of  Mrs.  Thompson's  ordinary  controls  —  it  does 
not  matter  which,  since  I  am  not  studying  Mrs.  Thompson's 
phenomena,  but  am  giving  what  appear  to  be  messages  from 
or  about  Myers,  who  died  on  17  January,  1901. 

FIRST  THOMPSON  SITTING  AT  EDGE  ASTON 

The  first  appearance  of  a  Myers  control  in  my  experience 
was  on  Thursday,  19  February,  1901,  that  is  to  say  just 
about  a  month  after  F.  W.  H.  Myers's  decease.  Present, 


290  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

only  myself  and  wife  with  Mrs.  Thompson.  At  6  o'clock 
the  control  "  Nelly "  began.  She  had  been  incredulous 
about  his  death,  and  indeed  had  declared  that  she  could  not 
find  him  anywhere  and  did  not  believe  that  he  had  come  over. 
See  J.  G.  P.'s  paper,  Proceedings,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  240,  also  238. 
But  now  she  was  just  beginning  to  admit  the  fact: — 

Tuesday,  19  February  1901.  Sitting  with  Mrs.  Thomp- 
son at  22$  Hagley  Road,  Birmingham.  Notes  by  O.  J.  L. 
and  M.  L. 

6.OO  p.m.  ("Nelly"  control  speaking.)  I  was  allowed  to  go  on 
his  birthday  to  see  him.  He  will  have  plenty  of  work 
to  do,  for  he  has  promised  to  send  messages  to  74  people. 
All  the  people  said  he  was  dead,  but  I  did  not  believe  it; 
and  though  I  saw  him,  I  thought  he  only  came  over  for 
his  birthday  like  in  a  vision.  But  I  see  him  now.  It 
is  the  truth,  it  is  the  truth  (excitedly).  Let  us  see 
if  he  can  talk  sense.  He  was  talking  on  the  platform 
with  you.  It  was  at  a  station  by  a  racecourse.  [I  had 
met  him  at  Liverpool;  seen  him  off  from  the  landing 
stage  to  America.  But  this  is  unimportant.]  He  will 
come  when  he  is  more  wakened  up  —  before  9  o'clock. 
You  be  ready  at  25  minutes  to  9.  He  will  be  awake 
by  then.  He  would  rather  think  and  realise  for  a  little 
space  by  himself.  He  is  sensible,  for  a  spirit. 
Before  you  came,  mother  was  praying.  She  said  "  Come 
and  tell  the  truth  for  truth's  sake." 
(At  6.30  Mrs.  Thompson  came  to.) 

Then  we  had  dinner,  and  at  8.30  the  Control  "  Nelly  "  appeared 
again,  saying 

What  is  the  matter  with  the  little  girl's  throat?  her  ear 
seems  to  have  made  her  throat  ache.  One  of  yours  — a 
twinkle  one. 


291 

[This  is  of  course  a  mere  friendly  interlude.  One  of  my 
twin  daughters  was  often  troubled  with  ear-ache  about 
this  time.] 

(Here  there  was  an  incipient  attempt  at  a  Myers  control, 
and  an  incident  at  a  Club  was  referred  to.  Then  another 
control  said) 

Do  you  know  he  feels  like  the  note-taker,  not  like  the  spirit 
that  has  to  speak.  I  think  he  will  speak  presently. 

(A  short  interval  of  apparent  discomfort,  and  then  "  Myers  " 
purported  to  communicate) 

Lodge,  it  is  not  as  easy  as  I  thought  in  my  impatience. 
Gurney  says  I  am  getting  on  first  rate.  But  I  am  short  of 
breath. 

Oh,  Lodge,  it  is  like  looking  at  a  misty  picture.  I  can  dis- 
tinctly feel  I  ought  to  be  taking  a  note  of  it.  I  do  not  feel 
as  if  I  were  speaking,  but  it  is  best  to  record  it  all. 

Tell  them  I  am  more  stupid  than  some  of  those  I  had  to 
deal  with.  Oh,  Lodge,  what  is  it  when  I  see  you?  Was 

it  the  Albemarle  Club  we  went  to  when  I  talked  about 

oh,  it  leaves  off. 

Sidgwick  knows  I  am  with  him.  He  said  that  he  saw  me 

in  the  morning  of Oh  dear,  it  always  leaves  off  in  the 

interesting  places. 

I  can  hear  myself  using  Rosa  Thompson's  voice. 

I  want  to  convince  Sidgwick.  He  says  "  Myers,  now  we 
are  together,  you  convince  me  that  I  am  sending  my  mes- 
sages, and  that  she  is  not  getting  them  from  us  some  way." 

He  still  wants  me  to  show  him.  He  says  he  saw  me  in  the 
morning  of  the  day  he  went  to  Trevelyan.  He  met  Tre- 
velyan,  and  he  saw  me  first.  I  am  trying  to  show  him  the 
way.  It  is  funny  to  feel  myself  talking  when  it  is  not  my- 
self talking.  It  is  not  my  whole  self  talking.  When  I 
am  awake  I  know  where  I  am.  Do  you  remember  the  day 
I  was  with  you  here?  When  I  went  home  that  day  I 
was  ill.  I  had  such  a  bad  night.  It  is  in  my  diary.  It 


292  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

was  in  May,  I  think.     I  was  very  ill.     [This  about  Tre- 

velyan  seems  to  refer  to  an  incident  dealt  with  by  Mr.  Pid- 

dington.     See  Proc.  vol.  xviii.,  pp.  239,  241.] 
[The  description  of  the  feeling  of  the  control  while  engaged 

in  communication  agrees  closely  with  that  of  Dr.  Hodgson 

based  upon  his  experience  of  Mrs.  Piper.     See  for  instance 

vol.  xiii.,  pp.  366,  380,  404,  405.     And  the  forgetfulness 

immediately  following  may  be  compared  with  statements 

in  chap,  xviii  above.] 
O.  J.  L.    Do  you  want  to  say  anything  about  the  Society  ? 

What  Society? 
O.  J.  L.   You  remember  the  S.  P.  R. 

Do  not  think  that  I  have  forgotten.  But  I  have.  I  have 
forgotten  just  now.  Let  me  think.  You  know,  Lodge, 
when  you  have  wanted  a  thing  thirty  or  forty  years,  and 
at  last  got  it,  you  do  not  think  of  much  else  beside.  Let 
me  think,  and  bit  by  bit  give  it  you.  I  used  to  get 
better  evidence  when  I  let  them  say  what  they  wanted 
to  say. 

They  tell  me  it  was  my  best  love  that  Society.  They  will 
help  me. 

What  did  Battersea  say  about  it? 
O.  J.  L.    I  do  not  know. 

I  am  going  to  talk  to  you  clearly  and  very  distinctly  in 
April.  I  do  not  know  my  Mother's  name  now.  .  .  . 

What  James  gave  me  to  make  me  sleep  did  not  do  me  any 
good. 

There  is  plenty  of  good  matter  in  those  papers  that  I  left 
if  it  is  gone  through.  You  remember  the  dis- 
cussion there  was  over  Hyslop's  paper  and  its  length? 
If  it  is  put  in  too  much  detail,  there  is  too  much  of 
it ;  and  yet  if  you  put  it  fully  it  is  there  for  those  who 
want  it  full ;  and  you  can  pick  out  the  points  too.  .  .  . 

I  have  not  seen  Tennyson  yet  by  the  way. 

through  passages,  before  I  knew  I  was  dead.     I  thought 
I  had  lost  my  way  in  a  strange  town,  and  I  groped  my 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  293 

way  along  the  passage.     And  even  when  I  saw  people  that 
I  knew  were  dead,  I  thought  they  were  only  visions. 

I  have  not  seen  Tennyson  yet  by  the  way. 

I  am  going  to  be  bold  and  prophesy  already.     I  am  going 
to  see  you  in  April.     I  am  going  to  know  who  I  am  by 
then. 
O.  J.  L.    And  will  you  then  read  what  you  wrote  in  the  envelope  ? 

What  envelope?  —  I  shall  be  told. 

Ernest  does  not  mind  now.  What  do  they  mix  me  up  with 
him  for?  (Jocularly.)  Do  they  think  I  want  to  shine 
in  his  glory? 

[This  was  evidently  a  reference  to  the  Times  obituary  no- 
tice, which  I  had  written,  but  to  which  some  one  in  the 
Times  office  appended  a  supplementary  statement  that 
F.  W.  H.  M.  had  been  a  joint  translator  of  Homer  to- 
gether with  Walter  Leaf  and  Andrew  Lang;  whereas  it 
is  public  and  general  knowledge  that  this  was  only  true 
of  his  brother  Ernest.] 

I  wanted  you  to  do  for  me  what  I  did  for  Sidgwick.     [/.  e. 

write  a  notice  in  the  Society's  Proceedings.] 
O.  J.  L.    I  am  going  to;  and  so  are  Richet  and  James. 

Ah,  Richet:  Yes,  Richet  knows  me;  and  James  will  do  it 
well. 

I  never  finished  those  letters  I  was  writing  —  letters  to  be 
published. 

[Probably  meaning  the  book  Human  Personality.] 
[Then  the  control  seemed  to  change,  and  it  went  on] : — 

He  says  he  must  stay  and  try  and  help.  He  says,  Bless 
him  when  he  has  so  much  to  do.  He  says  "  Brothers  I 
have  none  excepting  Lodge."  He  wants  Lodge  to  be 
President  if  he  dare  spare  the  work ;  but  he  says  "  Do  not 
rope  yourself,  but  keep  the  group,  keep  the  group  to- 
gether. It  will  soon  take  care  of  itself." 
O.  J.  L.  We  are  trying  to  get  Rayleigh. 

That  would  be  splendid,  but  that  is  too  good  to  hope  for.  I 
think  it  will  be  you.  Thank  you  for  being  helpful  to 


294  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

him.  You  have  helped  him.  Man's  sympathy  is  more 
helpful  than  anything  else,  and  with  sympathy  every- 
thing slips  into  place.  Among  the  things  which  are  not 
evidential  you  get  things  which  are.  They  must  take 
it  all.  Those  that  seek  only  the  evidential  things  will 
not  get  them. 

There  are  so  many  he  would  like  to  help.  He  promised, 
and  he  will  have  to. 

When  he  comes  in  April  he  will  remember  a  great  deal 
more.  He  will  remember  what  he  wrote  for  you  in  the 
envelope. 

(Trance  ends  about  10.30  p.  m.) 

The  impersonation  at  this  sitting  was  really  a  remarkably 
vivid  and  lifelike  one.  It  occurred  only  a  month  after  the 
death  of  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  and  the  state  of  confusion  in  which 
the  Myers  control  found  itself  seemed  very  natural.  Indeed 
it  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  invent  an  experience  or  a 
communication  more  reasonable,  under  the  supposed  circum- 
stances, or  more  what  we  might  suppose  to  be  "  natural," 
than  what  we  actually  got.  The  necessity  for  still  "  convinc- 
ing Sidgwick  "  struck  us  as  amusingly  characteristic;  so  did 
several  other  little  traits,  such  as  that  Myers  "  felt  as  if  he 
ought  to  be  taking  notes  " —  a  point  on  which  F.  W.  H.  M. 
was  always  specially  insistent.  And  as  to  his  temporary  for- 
getfulness  of  the  existence  of  the  S.  P.  R.,  though  it  will 
probably  be  pounced  upon  as  an  absurdity  by  scoffers,  and 
though  it  was  of  course  quite  unexpected,  yet  even  that  struck 
us  at  the  time  as  humanly  natural  and  interesting.  And  in- 
deed so  it  does  now.  (Compare  Hodgson's  statement  on 
p.  259. )  With  the  portions  omitted,  and  everything  taken 
into  account,  this  sitting  seems  to  me  about  the  best  of  the 
Myers  sittings  in  which  I  have  been  immediately  concerned. 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  295 

Without  being  strictly  evidential,  it  was  in  fact  as  convincing 
as  anything  that  could  be  imagined  of  that  kind. 

This  was  in  February,  1901.  A  further  communication 
was  promised  for  April,  but  no  opportunity  for  another 
sitting  came  until  May  8th,  and  then  it  came  quite  unex- 
pectedly and  without  being  arranged  for.  In  fact  at  that 
time  it  was  unlikely  that  any  sitting  would  occur,  since  we 
had  all  been  definitely  told  that  Mrs.  Thompson's  sittings 
were  suspended, —  or  rather  that  they  were  intended  hence- 
forth to  cease. 

SECOND  THOMPSON  SITTING  AT  EDGBASTON 

On  May  8th,  1901,  Mrs.  Thompson  happened  to  come  to 
Birmingham  again,  to  see  her  connexions  there;  and  she  in- 
cidentally visited  us  Jit  our  temporary  home  in  the  Hagley 
Road. 

I  made  the  following  contemporary  notes,  and  it  seems 
to  me  worth  while  to  reproduce  them  as  a  representation 
of  the  circumstances  of  the  case  at  this  time. 

From  O.  /.  L.'s  Note-book,  9  May,  1901 

After  dinner  Mrs.  Thompson  spontaneously  asked  Mrs. 
Lodge  to  take  her  up  into  my  study,  saying  as  she  went  up- 
stairs that  she  felt  only  half  conscious,  and  as  if  she  were 
going  off. 

Upstairs  we  three  alone  sat  and  talked  for  some  time. 

At  last  "  Nelly  "  appeared  and  notes  began :  Mrs.  Lodge 
taking  them  as  well  as  myself.  Mrs.  Lodge  spoke  no  word 
during  the  trance  from  first  to  last. 

The  sitting  was  dim  and  unsatisfactory,  and  in  most  re- 
spects apparently  at  the  time  a  failure.  It  lasted  about  an 


296  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

hour  and  a  half,  one  continuous  trance,  and  at  the  end  Mrs. 
Thompson  was  much  agitated ;  not  exhausted,  but  weepy ;  say- 
ing how  much  she  disliked  the  idea  of  coming  back  to  con- 
sciousness and  leaving  the  conditions  in  which  she  had  just 
been.  She  said  she  had  no  recollection  of  what  had  been  said ; 
and  this  appeared  to  be  the  case.  She  also  told  me,  before 
the  sitting  began,  that  of  late  she  had  been  quite  unconscious 
of  any  communications,  that  is  to  say,  she  could  not  remember 
their  contents,  but  that  she  was  under  the  impression  that 
during  the  last  month  or  so  she  had  had  three  or  four 
trances  when  no  one  was  there,  at  different  times,  and  that 
once  she  found  herself  waking  on  the  floor  with  a  feeling 
of  great  satisfaction  and  contentment. 

She  further  said  that  the  sudden  cutting  off  of  all  attempts 
at  communication  had  been  a  great  blow  to  her,  and  seemed 
to  upset  her  physically  to  some  extent.  Also  that  she  had 
been  promised  something  for  her  birthday,  April  22nd, — 
evidently  connecting  it  with  me.  "  Nelly  "  had  indeed  prom- 
ised me  a  sitting  in  April  [as  recorded  in  last  sitting],  though 
not  for  any  particular  date.  But  it  seems  she  had  expected 
it  on  the  22nd.  However  I  had  no  sitting  in  April  —  noth- 
ing till  this  May  8th. 

The  difficulties  of  clear  utterance  at  times  rendered  it 
necessary  for  me  to  help  the  ideas  out,  or  anticipate  them  as 
far  as  I  could.  My  notes  aim  at  recording  the  sense  of 
what  was  intended,  and  can  only  be  of  interest  to  those  who 
understand. 

Additional  Note  written  on  n  May,  1901 

The  above  was  dictated  before  copying  the  notes,  and 
gives  my  contemporary  impression  of  the  sitting;  but  on 
reading  over  the  notes  I  find  them  better  than  I  expected; 
and  now  think  that  though  at  the  time  it  seemed  a  bad 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  297 

sitting  to  everybody  concerned,  it  is  not  really  bad;  though 
the  utterances  were  so  feeble  and  confused  that  to  a  novice 
it  would  have  been  nearly  all  gibberish.  A  little  gibberish 
remains  undeciphered  in  places;  but  is  recorded  in  case  any 
meaning  can  be  attached  to  it.  I  do  not  think  it  is  gib- 
berish really, —  only  as  heard  and  taken  down.  It  prob- 
ably had  sense  if  it  could  have  been  heard  and  understood, 
though  most  likely  not  at  all  important  sense. 

Second  Sitting  with  Mrs.  Thompson  at  225  Hagley  Road, 
Birmingham,  8  May,  1901,  from  9.00  till  10.30  p.  m. 

Present  —  O.  /.  L.  and  M.  L.,  both  taking  notes. 
(Nelly  speaking.} 

P'fessor  Lodge,  what  is  that  umbrella  they  have  put  up  and 
made  it  all  dark  ?     I  wish  they  would  take  it  away. 
(Further  indications  followed  that  she  had  tried  to  communi- 
cate but  found  it  dark.) 

[This   evidently   refers   to   the  suspension   of  sittings;   Mrs. 

Thompson,  for  some  private  reason,  declined  to  sit. for  the 

last  few  months,  and  only  did  it  now  as  a  special  favour, 

and  because  she  felt  internally  urged  to  do  so.] 

I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Myers,  not  once;  I  have  not  seen  him  since 

they  put  that  umbrella  up. 

Nelly  then  appealed  to  me  to  try  and  believe  her  and  receive  her 
statements  sympathetically  and  not  with  an  undercurrent  of  suspicion, 
explaining  that  such  undercurrent  befogged  her,  and  that  she  could 
give  me  better  things  if  I  was  sympathetic.  I  asked  her  not  to  regard 
me  as  in  any  way  hostile,  and  she  said  "  No,  I  don't  feel  like  that  to 
any  of  the  Marshall  family."  This  remark  was  not  amplified,  nor 
did  it  seem  understood  by  Nelly  herself. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  noting  incidentally  that  my  grandmother  and 
my  wife's  father  were  both  Marshalls,  though  no  relation  whatever  to 
each  other,  nor  to  Frederic  Myers's  relations  of  that  name. 

Nelly  then  sent  a  few  messages  to  Mr.  Piddington,  and  inciden- 


'298  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

tally  remarked,  that  she  felt  as  if  in  a  pound  in  the  middle  of  a  field, 
and  as  if  she  could  not  see  clearly  the  people  on  the  other  side  of 
the  enclosure,  and  that  communication  was  very  difficult  and  not 
clear  to-day. 

Then  followed  some  convulsive  movements  and  a  sort  of  internal 
colloquy  of  which  only  fragments  were  audible.  They  appeared 
however  to  indicate  a  confused  conversation  between  Nelly  and  Mr. 
Myers,  Nelly  asking  him  to  "  come  in,"  and  Mr.  Myers  saying  that 
he  had  been  told  not  —  that  he  had  understood  the  communications 
were  suspended  for  a  time. 

But  this  was  only  an  impression  gathered  from  the  confused  mut- 
terings.  A  further  impression  was  that  Mr.  Myers  mistrusted  the 
presence  of  a  third  person,  and  was  being  reassured  by  Nelly  that  it 
was  only  Mrs.  Lodge: — 

It's  only  Mrs.  Lodge  whom  you  love. 
No  I  don't  love  her. 
It's  only  Lodge's  wife,  who  will  help. 
More  than  I  anticipated  much  more. 

With  other  barely  intelligible  fragments  of  internal  colloquy. 
Ultimately  the  conversation  with  me  began  again,  but  in  a  very 
halting   and   indistinct   fashion  —  no   marked   personality   at   all  — 
somewhat  as  if  Nelly  were  half  giving  messages  and  half  personating 
Mr.  Myers,  and  doing  both  badly  and  with  difficulty. 
The  following  however  are  my  notes  of  what  was  said : 

Mr.  Myers  is  worrying  about  something  connected  with  Mr. 
Sidgwick,  something  that  was  not  understood  or  that  was 
not  put  down.  He  [H.  S.]  had  some  Jews  in  College  and 
he  could  not  do  it  on  Saturday. 

Tell  Fielding  that  he  is  doing  something  that  is  waste  of 
time.     The  Times  said  something  about  it  and  said  it  was 
valuable. 
[But   I  understood  the  communicator  to  mean  that  it  was 

not.     I  do  not  know  what  work  is  being  referred  to.] 
The  first  shock  to  my  dearest  hopes. 
So  stupid  not  to  tell  them  what  I  wished. 
The  time  was  gradually  passing. 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  299 

You  know  Sidgwick  and  I  had  many  disappointments  like  this 

[when  communications  would  not  come  clear?] 
I  thought  I  should  do  better,  but  I  cannot. 
We  had  many,  a  year,  a  hundred,  at  Newcastle.     Bitter  dis- 
appointments. 

But  when  I  can  give  pound     [muddle] 
Given  a  grain  and  found  as  much  as  would  have  been,  for 

Sidgwick,  in  that  hundred. 
Mrs.  Sidgwick  was  cold  on  a  brick  floor. 
A  hundred  results  nil. 
It  is  true  Lodge  it  is  true. 
I  tried  on  the  Sunday  with  — 
I  saw  the  receptacle,  but  not  this  one.     It  was  Hodgson  and 

Smith  and  I.     We  were  all  in  my  room  together,  and  I 

told  him. 
I  told  him  I  would  find  no  difficulty,  if  he  were  in  difficulty, 

in  putting  things  straight; 
But  it  is. 

[Meaning  that  it  was  much  harder  than  he  thought.] 
I  thought  I  knew  better  than  be  such  a  miserable  failure.     I 

thought  I  would  come  and  read  it. 

[Apparently  or  possibly  meaning  the  sealed  letter.] 
I  had  gone  away.     I  thought  I  was  not  to  communicate  now. 

It  is  not  the  time  now. 
I  wished  you  would  all  write  to  me.     I  was  so  far  away.     I 

pined  to  hear  from  you  all. 
My  philosophy  did  not  help  me  much. 
I  feel  just  as  lonely.     Lodge,  it  is  just  as  they  say,  you  grope 

in  fog  and  darkness. 
I  do  not  know,  when  I  come  to  talk  to  you,  about  the  other 

side. 

But  I  must  do  as  I  promised. 
I  feel  I  am  selfish  still. 
I  wanted  it  for  my  own  satisfaction. 

Further  indications  that  the  conditions  under  which  he  was  were 
not  altogether  to  his  liking,  not  at  least  when  trying  to  communicate ; 


300  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

and  also  further  statements  that  he  could  not  very  clearly  realize  the 
conditions  on  that  side  when  he  was  trying  to  communicate,  and  that 
now  he  was  wishful  to  pass  on  and  up  and  not  stay  to  redeem  his 
promises. 

Is  the  typhoid  better? 

What  are  you  doing  in  this  place? 

[Apparently  meaning  strange  and  unfamiliar  surroundings, 
the  temporary  house  in  Birmingham  which  I  had  taken, 
and  which  he  had  never  seen.] 

I  had  plenty  of  this  kind  of  unsatisfactory  experience  [mean- 
ing bad  sittings.] 

James  went  with  me. 

I  seemed  to  be  taken  from  all  my  pain  and  suffering  into 
light. 

I  hardly  like  to  tell  you  what  I  wanted  to  do,  it  seems  so 
selfish  now,  but  I  wanted  to  go  and  talk  to  Tennyson, 
whom  I  idolised,  (c.f.p.  298.)  But  I  was  told  that  I 
must  suffer  for  my  promises,  and  then  I  could  have  what  I 
wanted. 

I  wish  I  had  not  been  taken  so  far;  it  makes  it  difficult  to 
communicate. 

Then  —  referring  as  I  thought  at  the  time,  to  Mrs.  Thompson's 
unexpected  and  undesired  trance  which  she  had  told  me  of,  when  she 
woke  up  and  found  herself  on  the  floor,  but  perhaps  more  probably 
referring  to  one  of  the  incidents  mentioned  by  Mr.  Piddington  in 
Proc.,  vol.,  xviii.,  pp.  147,  148  —  the  Control  went  on, 

I  did  not  throw  her  on  the  floor. 
It  was  Talbot  —  Talbot  Forbes. 
It  was  not  I.  I  wanted  her  to  know  I  was  there,  but  Talbot 

only  wanted  her  to  tell  his  Mother. 
Why  does  she  [meaning  apparently  the  Medium]  pray  to  me 

and  beg  me  to  come,  when  she  knows  I  want  to  be  cleansed 

from  earth  first?     I  do  not  want  her  to  fetch  me  back 

at  all  times. 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  301 

They  keep  on  calling  me.  I  am  wanted  everywhere.  I  hear 
them  calling,  and  I  cannot  tell  who  it  is  at  first. 

They  tell  me  I  am  wanted.  But  I  want  to  concentrate  in  a 
few  places,  or  in  one  place,  and  not  to  be  split  up. 

Do  appeal  to  them  not  to  break  me  up  so,  and  leave  me  not 
clear  in  one  spot. 

I  am  only  one  now,  and  the  noise  of  you  all  calling  makes  me 
feel  I  cannot.  Someone  is  calling  me  now. 

What  did  Miss  Edmunds  want  with  me?  On  Friday  she 
called. 

[A  letter  from  America  referring  to  this,  May  3rd,  arrived 
later.] 

Tell  Richet  I  shall  meet  him  in  Rome.  I  shall  speak  to  him 
in  Rome  on  the  third  day  of  the  Congress. 

I  heard  them  describing  how  I  died,  and  I  could  not  stop 
them. 

[Referring  apparently  to  some  unpublished  Piper  sittings  in 
America.] 

I  could  not  say  it,  but  they  were  translating  like  a  schoolboy 
does  his  first  lines  of  Virgil  —  so  terribly  confused  and 
inaccurate.  But  somehow  I  could  not  help  it.  It  was  not 
me  communicating,  yet  I  saw  it  going  on.  They  had  some- 
thing from  me  on  the  I5th. 

I  tried  to  communicate  on  a  I5th. 

[These  things  are  referred  to  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  report.  Proc., 
vol.  xx.,  pp.  207-9.  See  also  notes  below.] 

I  tried  by  writing. 

Moses  —  Stainton  Moses. 

They  mixed  the  deaths  up  —  his  death  and  my  death.  It 
applies  to  him  and  not  to  me. 

[Apparently  referring  to  some  unpublished  and  to  me  un- 
known account  of  the  death-bed.] 

How  easy  to  promise  and  how  difficult  to  fulfil. 

Make  one  appeal  to  them  to  let  me  be  at  rest  for  two  or  three 
weeks  after  they  get  the  note.  After  Hodgson  hears  that 
I  have  tried,  however  badly,  ask  him  not  to  call  me,  and 


302  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

tell  him  that  if  he  does,  they  will  not  let  me  hear  him. 
I  have  gone  back  from  where  I  was  that  night.  I  could 
hear  what  she  (the  Medium)  was  saying,  and  keep  a  check 
on  it,  but  now  I  cannot  hear  what  is  being  said :  I  can  only 
think  the  things,  and  false  things  may  creep  in  without  my 
knowing  it. 

Have  you  ten  days  work  in  a  week?  I  cannot  protect  you 
from  the  calls  upon  you  as  they  may  protect  me. 

Do  you  think,  Mrs.  Lodge,  he  has  ten  days  work  a  week? 

(Then  the  Nelly  Control  reappears.) 

P'fessor  Lodge,  do  you  know  I  have  seen  such  a  funny  thing. 
I  have  seen  Mr.  Myers  talking  as  if  to  a  stick  right  through 
Mother's  body;  and  while  he  was  talking  to  it  some  one 
came  up  and  touched  it,  and  it  all  got  confused,  and  he  could 
not  think  why  it  went  funny. 

He  seems  to  have  to  talk  through  this  stick,  and  yet  it  keeps 
on  being  interfered  with  by  other  people. 

I  wish  Mother  was  not  so  wicked ;  because  when  Mr.  Myers 
wants  to  go  to  sleep  and  be  quiet,  Mother  will  not  let  him. 
She  will  call  him.  You  must  tell  her  not  to.  Tell  her  it 
is  wicked  to  call  him.  When  he  wants  to  go  to  sleep  and 
be  quiet  she  keeps  him  back.  She  must  not  do  it. 

[I  promised  to  give  her  the  message;  which  I  did  after  the 
trance,  and  she  then  admitted  that  she  thought  of  him 
frequently  and  urgently,  but  that  she  would  try  to  refrain.] 

(Nelly  went  on,) 

Do  you  know  last  Monday  when  I  went  to  Dr.  Van  Eeden's 
house;  he  called  for  me  and  we  went.  Mr.  Myers  came 
and  told  me  he  was  calling.  We  both  went,  yes,  on  Mon- 
day. He  has  got  an  impression  that  Mr.  Myers  helped  him 
to  call  me.  Mr.  Myers  said  "  Let  us  go  and  see  '  old 
Whiskers '  in  his  little  bed  and  laugh  at  him."  He  is 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  303 

much  more  lively  when  he  is  talking  to  me,  and  much 
more  wakened  up  than  when  he  is  talking  down  that 
stick.  [Cf.  Proc.  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  201.  See  also  chap- 
ter ix.  above.] 

But  he  does  seem  worried,  he  gets  no  rest.  Some  one  has 
called  him  in  a  glass  bottle  —  yes,  a  crystal. 

Oh  yes,  and  he  said  it  was  not  he  that  wrote  when  Miss 
Rawson  wrote  and  said  he  told  her.  But  it  was  not  he 
that  was  writing.  You  know  when;  Miss  Rawson  wrote 
two  very  full  sheets  in  the  middle  of  a  Gurney  letter.  He 
said  it  was  not  he,  but  neither  was  it  fraud.  He  does  not 
want  you  to  stop  the  phenomenon.  He  wants  to  study 
it.  You  are  not  to  say  that  it  was  wrong  and  get  it 
stopped.  He  likes  to  watch  the  somnambulistic  thing  at 
work.  It  is  not  he  that  is  doing  it,  and  yet  he  is  look- 
ing on. 

He  does  not  see  how  it  is  worked,  but  he  finds  this  more 
interesting  than  the  genuine  communications. 

He  did  not  rattle  the  curtains  either.  Eva  —  now  do  not 
think  I  am  talking  about  Mrs.  Myers,  but  Mrs.  Eva; 
they  had  a  shaking  of  the  curtain,  and  thought  it  was  he. 
It  was  not  he,  but  it  was  not  cheating,  and  he  does  not 
want  you  to  make  them  think  that  they  are  cheats.  He 
does  not  know  how  it  is  worked,  but  he  is  studying,  and 
he  thinks  it  will  help  a  great  deal  if  he  can  understand 
how  the  cheating  things  that  are  not  cheats  are  done. 
It  is  not  cheating,  and  yet  it  is  not  him  doing  it.  ... 
There  was  no  stick  that  went  through  any  one's  body 
there. 

He  says  that  others  tell  him  it  was  just  the  same  with  them. 

Sometimes  when  he  thought  they  were  communicating  they 
were  not,  and  yet  they  knew  about  it. 

He  says  he  is  finding  out  how  honest  non-phenomena  are 
to  be  accounted  for. 

Apparently  dishonest  phenomena  are  phenomena  of  extreme 


304  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

[interest?]  apart  from  the  spirit  which  purports  to  be  com- 
municating. 

[This  last  part  was  slowly  recited  by  Nelly,  like  a  lesson  not 
understood  by  her.] 

I  can't  help  what  he  says. 

I  must  go  now. 

(End  of  sitting  10.30  p.m.) 

Notes  on  this  Sitting 

Some  of  the  remarks  reported  above  seem  to  indicate  a 
connexion  with  statements  made  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  auto- 
matic writing  of  the  same  period,  about  which  Mrs.  Thomp- 
son knew  nothing.  Thus  there  appears  a  certain  similarity 
between  the  remark  "  Mr.  Myers  is  worrying  about  some- 
thing connected  with  Mrs.  S."  and  the  attempts  —  misun- 
derstood at  the  time  —  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  between 
April  19  and  May  8,  as  related  in  Proceedings,  vol.  xx., 
pp.  195-198,  to  describe  where  Mrs.  Sidgwick  was  to  look 
for  something  of  the  nature  of  a  book.  Again  "  I  tried 
on  the  Sunday  with  —  I  saw  the  receptacle  but  not  this  one  " 
may  perhaps  be  connected  with  the  sudden  impulse  on  Sun- 
day, March  I7th  (Proceedings,  vol.  xx.,  p.  221),  which 
induced  Mrs.  Verrall  to  write  automatically  and  which  pro- 
duced the  first  reference  to  Mrs.  Forbes  in  what  eventually 
became  a  long  series  of  cross-correspondences  between  those 
two  automatists. 

Finally,  there  seems  a  close  correspondence  between  the 
above  remarks  as  to  difficulties  produced  by  simultaneous 
efforts  at  communication  and  similar  observations  in  Mrs. 
Verrall's  script  of  the  same  day  and  approximately  the 
same  hour  (Proceedings,  vol.  xx.,  pp.  207-209).  Thus 
in  Mrs.  Thompson's  sitting  the  Myers  control  speaks  of 
"  the  noise  of  you  all  calling  makes  me  feel  I  cannot. 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  305 

Someone  is  calling  me  now  " ;  he  also  says  "  false  things 
may  creep  in  " ;  and  the  Nelly  control  describes  how,  just 
before,  "  someone  came  up  and  touched  "  the  stick  through 
which  communication  was  being  made,  "  and  it  all  got 
confused."  While  Mrs.  Verall's  automatic  script  of  Mon- 
day, May  8th,  10-10.30  p.  m.,  concludes  as  from  the  Myers 
control  with  the  words:  "Falsehood  is  never  far  away. 
What  do  you  want  with  me.  I  cannot  .  .  .  No 
power,  doing  something  else  to-night.  Note  hour."  The 
initial  "  H  "  with  which  the  message  is  there  reported  as 
signed  was  a  substitution  for  the  real  initial,  because  that 
purported  to  represent  F.  W.  H.  M. ;  and  in  those  early 
days  of  Mrs.  Verrall's  writing  it  was  thought  safer,  and 
at  any  rate  less  sensational,  to  treat  this  as  mere  imper- 
sonation. 

The  correspondence  can  be  shown  by  a  statement  in  par- 
allel columns,  as  follows: — (See  also  p.  311.) 

May  8,  1901 

Mrs.  Thompson  Mrs.  Verrall 

Birmingham  Cambridge 

9-10.30  p.  m.  10-10.30  p.m. 

1.  "  I  cannot."  I.  "  Non    possum    (I    can- 

not)." 
"  No  power." 

2.  "  Some  one  is  calling  me      2.  "  Doing    something    else 

now."  to-night." 

3.  "  Let  me  be  at  rest."  3.  "  Desine  (leave  off)." 

4.  "  False  things  may  creep      4.  "  Falsehood  is  never  far 

in."  away." 

The  utterances  of  Mrs.  Thompson  were  not  known  to 
Mrs.  Verrall  when  she  wrote  the  script  reported  in  her  pa- 


3o6  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

per,  Proc.,  vol.  xx. ;  but  the  correspondence  is  mentioned  in 
her  paper  on  pages  207  et  seq. 

Further  Notes  on  the  Thompson  Myers  Sittings 

The   rather   strikingly  worded   complaints   and   requests 

recorded  above   (pp.  300-301),  as  received  through  Mrs. 

Thompson  — 

"  They    keep    on    calling    me.     I    am    wanted    everywhere. 

.     .     .     Do  appeal  to  them  not  to  break  me  up  so.     ... 
How  easy  to  promise  and  how  difficult  to  fulfil.     Make  one 

appeal  to  them  to  let  me  be  at  rest  for  two  or  three 

weeks." 

also  correspond  with  something  to  the  same  effect  inde- 
pendently received  through  another  lady,  called  Miss  Raw- 
son,  three  months  earlier;  and  constitute  what  may  be  fairly 
considered  a  very  simple  kind  of  cross-correspondence. 
This  message,  received  on  Feb.  yth,  1901,  purported  to 
come  from  Edmund  Gurney,  who  was  represented  as  speak- 
ing through  Miss  Rawson  as  follows : — 

"  I  have  come  to  warn  you  for  my  friend  to  implore  you  not 
to  let  them  call  him.  He  gets  no  rest  day  or  night. 
At  every  sitting  '  Call  Myers !  Bring  Myers' ;  there's 
not  a  place  in  England  where  they  don't  ask  for  him ; 
it  disturbs  him,  it  takes  away  his  rest.  For  God's  sake 
don't  call  him.  It  is  all  right  for  him  to  come  of  his  own 
accord.  .  .  .  What  we  want  for  him  now  is  to  rise, 
and  to  forget  the  earthly  things.  He  can't  help  any  more. 
His  life  was  given  to  it,  and  that  must  be  the  help.  He 
was  allowed  just  to  say  that  he  continued.  That  was  his 
great  desire,  but  it  will  help  nobody  that  he  should  be 
called  back,  and  made  to  hover  near  the  earth.  In  fact 
it  will  only  make  him  earthbound. 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  307 

I  am  tempted  to  quote  here,  from  page  213  of  Proc., 
vol.  xxi.,  a  different  though  not  altogether  dissimilar  extract 
from  the  script  of  Mrs.  Holland  in  India  which  was  written 
on  January  5th  and  6th,  1904,  by  the  MyersH  control: — 

"  Oh  if  I  could  only  get  to  them  —  could  only  leave  you  the 
proof  positive  that  I  remember  —  recall  —  know  —  con- 
tinue. ...  I  have  thought  of  a  simile  which  may 
help  you  to  realise  the  '  bound  to  earth  condition  '  which 
persists  with  me.  It  is  a  matter  very  largely  of  voluntary 
choice  —  I  am,  as  it  were,  actuated  by  the  missionary 
spirit;  and  the  great  longing  to  speak  to  the  souls  in 
prison  —  still  in  the  prison  of  the  flesh  —  leads  me  to 
'  absent  me  from  felicity  awhile.'  " 

This  clearly  expresses  the  idea  of  "  service  "  which  I 
wish  to  emphasize,  and  it  is  a  reverberation  and  later  expan- 
sion of  the  thought  in  the  extracts  already  quoted,  which  had 
not  been  published  and  were  not  known  to  Mrs.  Holland. 
But  the  long  post-dating  of  this  last  communication  destroys 
any  claim  to  consideration  as  a  cross-correspondence.  Be- 
sides it  was  only  an  explanation  of  why  the  messages  still 
willingly  continued;  whereas  the  other  two  —  so  soon  after 
death  —  are  full  of  earnestness  and  anxiety. 

GENERAL  REMARKS,  ADDRESSED  TO  RELIGIOUS 
OBJECTORS 

Good  and  earnest  though  moderately  intelligent  religious 
people  sometimes  seek  to  pour  scorn  upon  the  reality  of  any 
of  these  apparent  communications  —  not  for  any  scientific 
reason,  but  for  reasons  born  of  prejudice.  They  think  that 
it  is  not  a  worthy  occupation  for  "  just  men  made  perfect  " 
"  who  have  entered  into  felicity  "  to  be  remembering  trivial 
and  minute  details,  under  circumstances  of  exceptional  diffi- 


3o8  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

culty,  for  the  purpose  of  proving  to  those  left  behind  the  fact 
of  survival  and  the  continuance  of  personal  identity.  It 
is  taken  for  granted  that  saints  ought  to  be  otherwise  occu- 
pied in  their  new  and  lofty  and  favoured  conditions. 

What  may  or  may  not  be  possible  to  saints,  it  is  hardly 
for  me  or  other  gropers  among  mere  terrestrial  facts  to 
surmise;  nor  am  I  anxious  to  imagine  that  all  our  communi- 
cators belong  to  the  category  of  "  perfected  and  glorified 
saints," — it  seems  to  me,  I  confess,  singularly  unlikely;  nor 
is  it  necessary  to  suppose  that  such  exercises  as  we  report  — 
even  if  they  are  fully  and  entirely  what  they  pretend  to  be  — 
constitute  any  large  proportion  of  the  activity  of  the  people 
who  are  professedly  concerned  in  their  production  —  people 
who  are  confessedly  far  from  perfection  and  who  have  still 
much  to  learn.  And  as  regard  dignity  and  appropriateness, 
—  does  it  not  sometimes  happen  that  an  Archbishop  or  a 
Savant  is  found  willing  to  play  a  frivolous  childish  game, 
and  otherwise  to  disport  himself,  in  spite  of  his  being  on  the 
brink  of  eternity  in  a  world  of  sorrow  and  sin? 

But  seriously,  is  it  not  legitimate  to  ask  these  good  people 
whether,  if  an  opportunity  of  service  to  brethren  arises,  an 
effort  to  seize  it  may  not  be  made  even  by  a  saint?  Whether 
this  notion  of  perennial  service  is  not  in  accordance  with  their 
own  doctrines  and  beliefs?  and  whether  they  are  not  im- 
pressed by  that  clause  in  the  creed  of  most  Christians  which 
roundly  asserts  that  their  Master  descended  into  Hades? 
for  purposes  which  in  another  place  are  suggested.  Whereby 
they  may  learn  that,  even  after  such  a  Life  and  Death  as 
that,  Felicity  was  not  entered  into  save  after  an  era  of 
further  personal  service  of  an  efficient  kind.  Those  who 
interpret  the  parables  in  such  a  way  as  to  imagine  that  dig- 
nified idleness  is  the  occupation  of  eternity  —  that  there  will 
be  nothing  to  do  hereafter  but  idly  to  enjoy  the  beatific 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  309 

contemplation  and  other  rewards  appropriate  to  a  well-spent 
life  or  to  well-held  creeds, —  free  from  remorse  of  every 
kind,  and  without  any  call  for  future  work  and  self-sacrifice, 
—  such  people  will  probably  some  day  find  themselves  mis- 
taken, and  will  realise  that  as  yet  they  have  formed  a  very 
inadequate  conception  of  what  is  meant  by  that  pregnant 
phrase  "  the  Joy  of  the  Lord." 

FURTHER  COMMENTS 

Those  who  think  that  there  is  anything  sensational  or 
specially  emotional  in  these  communications  are  mistaken. 
The  conversation  is  conducted  on  the  same  lines  as  a  tele- 
phonic conversation :  it  is  liable  to  the  same  sort  of  annoying 
interruptions,  and  likewise  to  the  same  occasional  surprising 
gleams  of  vividness, —  a  happy  turn  of  phrase,  for  instance, 
a  tone  of  the  voice,  and  other  unmistakable  and  unexpected 
revelations  of  identity  —  forged  or  real  —  such  as  may  be 
conveyed  by  an  appropriate  nickname  or  by  some  trivial 
reminiscence.  When  this  happens,  and  when  relatives  are 
present,  their  emotions  are  certainly  perturbed. 

These  remarks  are  general,  and  are  applicable  to  this 
whole  group  reported  on  by  me:  they  are  not  limited  in 
their  application  to  any  one  particular  series. 

I  have  not  the  slightest  interest  in  attempting  to  coerce 
belief  of  any  kind.  The  facts  will  make  different  kinds  of 
appeal  to  different  people,  and  to  some  they  will  not  appeal 
at  all.  These  will  regard  the  whole  business  with  contempt 
and  pity.  They  are  within  their  rights  in  doing  so  if  they 
have  conscientiously  read  .this  and  the  other  records.  As 
a  rule,  however,  that  is  where  they  are  apt  to  fail ;  and  when 
a  person's  knowledge  of  a  subject  is  small,  we  may  be 
pardoned  for  holding  his  opinion  concerning  it  in  light  es- 
teem. 


310  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

Among  the  messages  the  most  interesting  to  me  are  the 
concluding  observations,  part  of  which  were  carefully  and 
laboriously  reported  by  the  "Nelly"  control, —  the  words, 
repeated  below,  sounding  odd  in  a  childish  voice. 

(Myers)  "  I  could  not  say  it,  but  they  were  translating  like  a 
schoolboy  does  his  first  lines  of  Virgil  —  so  terribly  con- 
fused and  inaccurate.  But  somehow  I  could  not  help 
it.  It  was  not  me  communicating,  yet  I  saw  it  going 
on.  ...  I  can  only  think  the  things,  and  false 
things  may  creep  in  without  my  knowing  it." 

(Nelly}  "  He  said  it  was  not  he,  but  neither  was  it  fraud.  He 
does  not  want  you  to  stop  the  phenomenon,  he  wants 
to  study  it.  You  are  not  to  say  it  was  wrong  and  get 
it  stopped.  He  likes  to  watch  the  somnambulistic  thing 
at  work.  It  is  not  he  that  is  doing  it,  and  yet  he  is 
looking  on.  He  does  not  see  how  it  is  worked,  but  he 
finds  this  more  interesting  than  the  genuine  communica- 
tions. He  did  not  rattle  the  curtains  either  .  .  . 
but  it  was  not  cheating,  and  he  does  not  want  you  to 
make  them  think  that  they  are  cheats.  He  does  not 
know  how  it  is  worked,  but  he  is  studying  and  he 
thinks  it  will  help  a  great  deal  if  he  can  understand 
how  the  cheating  things  that  are  not  cheats  are  done. 

*         •         • 

[And  then  came  the  laborious  sentences] 
"  He  says  he  is  finding  out  how  honest  non-phenomena 
are  to  be  accounted  for.     Apparently  dishonest  phenom- 
ena are  phenomena  of  extreme    [interest]    apart   from 
the  spirit  which  purports  to  be  communicating." 

Whatever  their  origin,  these  words  do,  in  my  judgment, 
represent  the  truth  about  a  good  many  of  these  phenomena 
—  that  is  to  say,  that  they  are  not  precisely  what  their 
surface-aspect  implies,  yet  neither  are  they  fraud.  They  are 


THE  MYERS  CONTROL  311 

attempts  at  doing  something  rather  beyond  the  power  of 
the  operators, —  who  arrive  approximately  at  their  aim 
without  achieving  what  they  want  exactly.  They  are  trying 
to  get  something  definite  through,  let  us  say,  and  something 
like  it  comes.  Occasionally  they  hardly  know  how  it  comes, 
it  is  a  puzzle  to  them  as  to  us,  and  often  they  don't  know 
what  it  is  that  we  have  got ;  but  sometimes  they,  too,  seem  to 
be  spectators,  aware  of  the  result,  and  to  be  worried  by 
the  misconception  and  misunderstanding  which  they  see  will 
arise,  but  which  they  arc  powerless  to  prevent, —  except,  as 
here,  by  trying  to  instruct  us  and  to  awaken  our  intelligences 
into  a  condition  in  which  we,  too,  can  understand  and  grapple 
with  the  unavoidable  difficulties  of  the  situation. 

"  I  can  only  think  of  the  things;"  seems  to  me  likely  to  be 
an  accurate  description  of  the  method.  It  is  a  telepathic 
method,  and  the  reproduction  by  voice  or  pen  is  a  supple- 
mentary and  only  barely  controllable  process.  (Cf  also 
pages,  256  and  313.) 

It  was  characteristic  also  of  Myers  to  feel  as  if  he  were 
the  note-taker,  not  the  communicator,  and  that  he  ought  to 
be  putting  it  all  down  (p.  291).  Another  amusing  episode 
was  the  persistence  of  Prof.  Sidgwick's  incredulity  (p.  291), 
so  that  he  was  represented  as  asking  to  be  convinced  that 
he  was  himself  communicating,  and  that  the  medium  was 
not  "  getting  it  out  of  him  somehow." 

The  coincidence  in  time  between  the  termination  of  this 
sitting  at  Birmingham  and  some  writing  obtained  by  Mrs. 
Verrall  at  Cambridge,  as  exhibited  in  the  analytical  state- 
ment above,  on  page  305),  is  very  remarkable  and  worth 
careful  notice  —  especially  when  the  unexpected  character 
of  the  Thompson  sitting  is  taken  into  account.  It  really 
makes  an  effective  cross-correspondence. 


312  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

These  observations  terminate  this  account  of  communi- 
cations received  through  the  mediumship  of  Mrs.  Thomp- 
son. An  immense  mass  has  been  obtained  through  her  in 
the  past  (see  Reports  in  vols.  xvii.  and  xviii.  of  Proceedings 
S.  P.  R.),  but  so  far  as  I  know,  these  two  sittings  are  among 
the  last  which  she  has  given.  We  owe  our  thanks  for  the 
time  and  opportunity  which  she  has  freely  accorded  to  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  for  scientific  purposes. 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  which  I  regard  as  an  im- 
portant one,  I  claim  that  these  utterances  represent  a  gen- 
uine psychological  phenomenon,  and  are  therefore  of  interest 
to  students  of  psychical  matters,  from  any  point  of  view. 
It  is  just  possible  that  a  hostile  critic  may  here  find  part  of 
the  pabulum  necessary  for  making  every  effort  at  studying 
matters  of  the  kind  appear  ridiculous.  Whether  this  por- 
tion, or  the  subsequent  commonplace  dialogue  carried  on 
through  Mrs.  Piper,  or  such  few  of  the  "  unverifiable  " 
communications  as  have  been  reported  in  our  Proceedings 
(such  for  instance  as  that  on  p.  181  above),  will  appear  the 
more  humorous  when  regarded  from  the  scoffer's  point  of 
view,  I  am  unable  to  judge.  Nor  need  the  question  deeply 
concern  us. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE    MYERS    AND    HODGSON    CONTROLS    IN 
RECENT  PIPER  SITTINGS 

AS  to   Myers   and  Hodgson   controls   through   Mrs. 
Piper  —  like  the  Gurney  control  in  the  old  days  — 
I  do  not  propose  to  report  the  communications  I 
received.     They  were  not  so  good  as  some  of  those  re- 
ceived by  others,  partly  because  I  did  not  give  these  controls 
much  chance.     Indeed  "  Rector  "  complains  of  this  as  fol- 
lows : — 

Myers  has  had  very  little  opportunity  or  encouragement 

to  prove  his  identity. 
O.  J.  L.  Yes,  that  is  fairly  true  so  far. 

And   now   if   the   opportunity  can   be   given   him,   no  one 
on    our   side   is   more   desirous   of   proving   his    identity 
than  Myers.     Understand? 
O.  J.  L.  Yes,   I  quite  understand. 

He  understands,  and  wishes  very  much  to  communicate 
with  a  few  of  his  real  friends.  R.  It  should  be  given 
him  in  any  case,  as  he  is  intelligent,  clear,  and  under- 
stands the  necessity  of  so  doing. 

In  Mrs.  Holland's  script  of  i6th  April,  1907,  a  descrip- 
tion is  given  by  the  MyersH  control  of  one  of  the  difficulties 
of  communication. 

"  I  want  you  to  understand  me  but  I  have  so  few  chances 
to  speak  —  it's  like  waiting  to  take  a  ticket  and  I  am 
always  pushed  away  from  the  pigeon-hole  before  I  can 
influence  her  mind  —  No  the  scribe's " 

313 


314  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

Only  one  of  the  English  sittings  in  1907  was  conducted 
on  similar  lines  to  those  in  the  old  days, —  that  is  to  say, 
as  a  voice  sitting  —  a  talking,  not  a  writing,  sitting :  and 
it  was  less  unlike  those  of  the  old  Phinuit  days  than  I  had 
expected. 

In  fact  there  was  distinct  recurrence  of  what  in  the  old 
days  used  to  be  called  "  fishing,"  when  Phinuit  was  groping 
in  tentative  fashion  for  a  name  and  hoping  for  help  from 
the  sitter. 

But  in  truth  I  have  long  wanted  to  exonerate  Phinuit 
from  most  of  the  blame  in  this  matter.  The  "  fishing  " 
procedure  had  to  be  admitted,  and  indeed  emphasised,  like 
all  other  weak  spots;  and  Phinuit  had  not  been  trained  to 
eschew  normal  help  and  to  take  precautions  against  it,  as 
Mrs.  Thompson's  "  Nelly"  had  been  trained;  but  I  always 
felt  that  his  haziness  and  tentative  approach  to  things  prob- 
ably represented  a  genuine  difficulty,  and  was  part  of  the 
phenomenon  which  neqded  study;  so  I  am  interested  in 
reading  in  Dr.  Hodgson's  Report,  p.  382,  vol.  xiii.,  the 
following  judicial  pronouncement: — 

"  It  was  out  of  the  automatic  dreameries  of  persons  in 
some  such  conditions  as  those  which  I  have  illustrated  above, 
that  Phinuit  in  my  present  view  so  often  had  to  fish  his  facts; 
and  I  think  that  assent  to  correct  statements,  and  other 
clues  from  the  sitters  —  besides  helping  the  '  communicator  ' 
—  were  probably  of  great  service  to  Phinuit,  enabling  him  to 
*  cast  his  line  '  for  those  mental  automatisms  that  specially 
concerned  the  sitter. 

"  Much  light  seems  to  me  to  have  been  thrown  upon 
Phinuit's  mistakes  and  obscurities  and  general  method  of 
trying  to  get  at  facts,  in  what  were  on  the  whole  bad  sit- 
tings, by  comparison  of  the  results  obtained  from  the  various 
communicators  writing  directly  or  using  G.  P.  as  amanuen- 
sis ;  and  I  feel  pretty  sure  that  much  of  Phinuit's  '  fishing ' 


MYERS  AND  HODGSON  CONTROLS      315 

was  due  to  the  confusions  of  the  more  or  less  comatose  com- 
municators, whose  minds  had  let  loose,  so  to  speak,  a  crowd 
of  earthly  memories." 


MANNER  OF  THE  STAINTON  MOSES  GROUP 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  those  familiar  with  the  script 
of  Stainton  Moses  to  see  the  names  of  his  old  Controls 
cropping  up.  Not  only  Imperator  and  Rector,  but  "  Pru- 
dens  "  also,  -who  appears  to  act  as  an  accomplished  mes- 
senger. I  conjecture,  however,  that  whatever  relationship 
may  exist  between  these  personages  and  the  corresponding 
ones  of  Stainton  Moses,  there  is  little  or  no  identity.  For 
instance,  a  "  Doctor  "  is  represented  as  communicating  or 
controlling,  but  he  appears  neither  to  have,  nor  to  claim,  any 
connexion  with  the  non-medical  "  Doctor "  of  Stainton 
Moses;  sometimes  at  any  rate  this  Piper  one  is  called  "  Dr. 
Oliver,"  and  is  probably  intended  to  represent  a  deceased 
medical  man  of  Boston.  It  is  rather  a  puzzle  to  me  why 
Mrs.  Piper's  personalities  should  have  assumed  the  same 
set  of  names.  In  general  characters  they  are  similar;  but 
I  see  no  very  close  resemblance  in  detail.  And  hitherto 
the  Piper  "  Imperator  "  has  not  given  to  us  the  same  old 
earth-name  as  did  the  original  "  Imperator "  to  Stainton 
Moses.  So  it  would  appear  as  if  they  did  not  very  seriously 
pretend  to  be  identical. 

It  is  seldom,  nowadays,  that  there  is  any  marked  change 
of  control,  such  as  occurred  with  Phinuit  sometimes.  The 
utterances  appear  to  consist  of  first-person-reporting  on  the 
part  of  Rector,  who  speaks  or  writes  after  the  fashion  of  a 
dignified  and  gentle  old  man. 

It  may  be  noted  that  in  America,  with  the  advent  of 
the  Stainton  Moses  controls,  the  atmosphere  of  a  sitting 


316  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

sometimes  became  rather  markedly  "  religious."  This  can 
be  illustrated  by  the  following  close  of  an  American  Voice- 
Sitting  in  1906,  reported  to  me  by  Mr.  Dorr: — 

("  Hodgson  "  terminating  his  communication) 
Well,  I  will  be  off.     Good-bye  for  the  present. 
(Rector  resumes.)     All  right.     That  is  first-rate.     Took  him 
a  long  time  to  turn  round  and  get  out.     He  dislikes  to  go 
more  than  anybody  I  ever  saw.     The  last  moment  he  kept 
talking  to  me  and  talking  to  me.     He  could  not  give  it  up. 

PRAYER 

Father,  in  Thy  kindness  guide  Thy  children  of  earth,  bestow 
Thy  blessings  on  them,  teach  them  with  Thy  presence  and 
Thy  power  to  receive  suffering,  pain,  illness  and  sorrow, 
teach  them  to  know  that  Thy  presence  is  always  with  them. 
May  Thy  grace  and  everlasting  love  be  and  abide  with  them 
now  and  evermore. 

Farewell.  We  depart,  friends,  and  may  the  blessings  of  God 
be  bestowed  on  you.  Farewell. 

MANNER  OF  THE  HODGSON  CONTROL 

The  atmosphere  of  a  sitting  is  always  serious,  but  only 
occasionally  is  it  solemn  —  usually  it  is  of  an  even  tenor, 
and  sometimes  it  is  hearty  and  jovial.  The  following  is 
a  characteristic  Hodgson  greeting  extracted  from  a  sitting 
with  Mr.  Dorr  and  Henry  James,  Jr.,  at  Boston  in  1906: — 

Ha!     Well,  I  did  not  expect  to  see  you  so  soon. 
Good  morning,  Harry! 
I  am  delighted  to  see  you. 
H.  J.  Jr.  Is  that  you,  Mr.  Hodgson? 

Yes,  it  is  a  great  delight  to  me  to  see  your  face  once  more. 
How  is  everything  with  you,  first  rate  ? 


MYERS  AND  HODGSON  CONTROLS      317 

H.J.Jr.  Very  well. 

Hello,  George! 

Why,  I  feel  as  though  I  was  one  among  you.  Hello 
George ! 

G.B.D.  Hello! 

You  people  don't  appreciate  my  spirit  of  fun!  But  I  am 
Hodgson,  and  I  shall  be  Hodgson  to  the  end  of  all 
eternity,  and  you  cannot  change  me  no  matter  what  you 
do. 

H.J.Jr.  I  think  we  appreciate  it,  Mr.  Hodgson. 

Well,  I  hope  you  do  —  if  you  don't,  you  have  lost  some- 
thing, because  I  am  what  I  am,  and  I  shall  never  be 
anything  else,  and  of  all  the  joyous  moments  of  my 
whole  existence,  the  most  joyful  is  when  I  meet  you 
all. 

This  sort  of  thing  is  of  course,  not  in  the  least  evidential, 
and  yet  if  I  were  asked  to  invent  some  scheme  of  salutation 
more  natural  and  characteristic  of  Hodgson's  personality 
I  should  not  be  able  to  improve  upon  it. 

To  illustrate  the  manner  of  the  Hodgson  control  in  my 
own  experience,  the  following  brief  extract  must  serve : — 

At  the  Eighth  Sitting  on  23  Nov.  1906  (present  0.  J.  L. 
alone},  "Isaac  Thompson"  wrote  a  good  deal,  but 
the  following  came  from  Hodgson: — 

I  am  Hodgson,  but  I  cannot  take  Rector's  place  to-day. 
However  I  will  make  a  poor  attempt  to  speak  through 

him. 
O.  J.  L.  Very  glad  to  see  you. 

Here's  ditto.     Do  I  understand  that  Mrs.  Piper  is  in  Eng- 
land? 
O.  J.  L.  Yes,  she  is,  and  is  staying  in  my  house. 

Capital.     If  I  were  in  the  body  it  would  not  be  so. 
However  I  am  glad  it  is  so. 


318  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

O.  J.  L.  She  is  here,  well  and  happy,  with  Alta  and  Minerva. 
Good,  first  rate.     I  am  glad. 

Will  you  take  a  message  to  Billie  Newbold  for  me,  safe? 
O.  J.  L.  Yes,  I  will  send  it  through  William  James. 
Do  you  wish  me  to  take  a  message  for  you? 
Ask  slowly;  remember  we  cannot  hear  as  well  as  you  can. 
I  am  so  glad  to  be  on  this  side. 

O.  J.  L.  Well,   Hodgson,  I  do  want  to  ask  you  something.     You 
know  when  I  am  talking  to  you  I  am  talking  to  the 
hand;  but  I  want  to  know  whether  it  is  through   the 
hand  you  hear.     Suppose  I   stopped  up  your  medium's 
ears  with  cotton  wool,  would  it  make  any  difference? 
Would  the  message  still  come? 
I  think  it  would,  try  it. 
O.  J.  L.  Very  well,  I  will  another  time. 
First  rate,  I  permit  it;  first  rate. 

But  after  all  I  did  not  try  the  experiment;  for  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  secure  complete  deafness  by  plugging 
the  ears  —  even  with  putty.  Moreover  the  necessary  ma- 
nipulation of  the  medium's  head  during  trance  seemed  rather 
repellent.  It  is  an  experiment  worth  trying,  however,  if 
we  could  be  sure  of  a  clear  result.  If  I  could  have  been  sure 
of  a  crucial  test  I  would  have  had  it  done;  but  hyperaes- 
thesia  would  have  to  be  allowed  for  in  the  positive  direction 
—  possibly  also  inhibitory  suggestion  in  the  negative, —  and 
on  the  whole  I  felt  that  no  definite  deduction  could  be  made, 
whatever  the  result.  Nevertheless,  the  experiment  ought  to 
be  made  by  some  competent  person. 

MANNER  OF  THE  IMPERSONATION  GENERALLY 

As  illustrating  the  dramatic  activity  of  the  hand  in  an 
extreme  case  —  though  it  is  always  very  marked,  for  the 
hand  is  full  of  "  personality  " —  I  quote  the  following  con- 


MYERS  AND  HODGSON  CONTROLS      319 

temporaneous  note  made  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  during  a  sitting 
in  which  the  MyersP  control,  at  length  after  much  effort, 
had  just  succeeded  in  giving  Abt  Fogler  as  the  name  of  a 
poem  he  was  referring  to. 

'  The  hand  is  tremendously  pleased  and  excited  and 
thumps  and  gesticulates.  The  impression  given  is  like  that 
of  a  person  dancing  round  the  room  in  delight  at  having 
accomplished  something." 

But  indeed  the  writing  which  immediately  followed  this 
success  is  worth  quoting.  The  record  runs  thus : — 

"(Rector  communicating) 

He  pronounced  it  for  me  again  and  again  just  as  you  did, 
and  he  said  Rector  get  her  to  pronounce  it  for  you  and 
you  will  understand,  he  whispered  it  in  my  ear. 
E.  M.  S.  Just  as  you  were  coming  out  ? 
Just  as  I  left  the  light. 
Voglor,  yes. 
E.M.  S.  Good. 

(Myers  communicating) 

Now  dear  Mrs.  Sidgwick  in  future  have  no  doubt  or  fear 
of  so-called  death  as  there  is  none  as  there  is  certainly 
intelligent  life  beyond  it." 

With  regard  to  the  misspelling  which  occurs  here  and 
elsewhere,  the  difficulty  is  readily  imaginable,  but  it  is  thus 
expressed  by  Rector,  later,  when  he  is  repeating  the  name  of 
a  poem.  The  record  runs  thus : — 

"  Abt  ABT.  Volg. 

(Hand  expresses  dissatisfaction  with  this.) 

Vogler. 

(Rector  communicating) 

You  sec  I  do  not  always  catch  the  letters  as  he  repeats 
them.  R. 


320  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

E.  M.  S.  No,  I  see. 

Therefore  when  I  am  registering  I  am  apt  to  misspell. 
E.  M.  S.  I  see. 

But  if  you  ask  me  to  correct  it  of  course  I  can.    R." 

With  regard  to  "  fishing  "  and  making  use  of  indications 
given  by  the  sitter,  it  seems  likely  that  with  the  most  trans- 
parent honesty  this  would  be  likely  to  happen;  because  Rec- 
tor, or  any  other  scribe,  is  evidently  in  the  position  of  re- 
ceiving ideas  by  a  sort  of  dictation,  and  need  not  always 
be  able  clearly  to  discriminate  their  source,  whether  from  the 
ultra-material  or  from  the  material  side.  For  instance,  the 
Myersp  control  attempted  to  speak  about  the  Odes  of 
Horace,  and  did  so,  but  Rector,  after  writing  "  Odes  " 
without  difficulty,  appeared  doubtful  about  the  word,  and 
wrote  "  Odessus "  "  Odesesis "  etc.,  and  finally  half  ac- 
cepted Mrs.  Sidgwick's  suggestion  "  Odyssey  " ; —  a  good 
instance  of  how  ready  Rector  is  to  accept  a  misleading  sug- 
gestion, even  when  what  he  has  independently  written  is 
right;  and  also  of  discontinuity  of  consciousness  between 
Rector  and  the  real  communicator,  who  in  this  case  was 
obviously  trying  to  talk  about  the  Odes  of  Horace  in  order 
to  connect  them  with  the  quotations  from  Abt  Vogler  just 
previously  made. 


CHAPTER 

BRIEF    SUMMARY    OF    OTHER    EXPERIENCES 
AND  COMMENT  THEREUPON 

SOME  rather  striking  sittings  were  held  by  a  lady 
named  Mrs.  Grove,  whose  deceased  friends,  a  Mr. 
Marble  and  some  others,  sent  many  appropriate  mes- 
sages, which  were  in  many  respects  akin  to  those  which  had 
been  received  by  the  same  sitter  through  other  mediums. 

Her  friends  were  perfectly  obscure  people,  totally  un- 
known to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  unknown  in  any  district  in  which 
Mrs.  Piper  had  been;  hence  these  utterances  have  an  im- 
portance of  their  own,  more  akin  to  that  of  the  time  when 
Phinuit  showed  himself  able  to  deal  with  the  concerns  of 
miscellaneous  strangers.  They  are  reported  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Society  of  Psychical  Research,  (part  Iviii)  but 
I  do  not  repeat  them  here,  though  I  repeat  an  experiment 
made  in  connexion  with  them: — 

EXPERIMENT  ON  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  A  PHOTOGRAPH 
OF  ONE  OF  THE  CONTROLS 

The  waking  stages  of  the  last  sitting  of  the  first  Edgbas- 
ton  series,  in  December  1906,  and  of  the  first  of  the  second 
series,  in  May  1907, —  with  an  interval  between  them  of 
five  months, —  are  worth  recording  because  of  an  experi- 
ment I  made  in  connexion  with  the  likeness  of  a  person  sup- 
posed to  have  been  communicating  during  the  trance  (in 
this  case  Mr.  Marble)  :  the  point  being  to  sec  whether  there 

321 


322  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

would  be  any  recognition  of  a  photograph  by  the  automatist 
before  her  state  had  become  entirely  normal, —  that  is  dur- 
ing the  sort  of  period  in  which  it  is  customarily  possible 
dimly  to  remember  dreams.  (See  p.  279.)  This  stage  is 
referred  to  by  Dr.  Hodgson  on  page  401  of  vol.  xiii. — 
where  he  calls  it  Mrs.  Piper's  subliminal  stage,  and  says  that 
it  is  a  condition  in  which  she  frequently  has  visions  of  the 
distant  or  departing  "  communicators." 

On  the  first  occasion  I  waited  rather  a  long  time  before 
trying  the  experiment, —  something  more  than  an  hour, — 
and  the  recognition  was  uncertain;  but  faint  as  it  was,  it 
seemed  to  be  a  residual  effect  of  the  trance;  since  it  was 
not  permanent,  and  by  next  day  had  entirely  disappeared. 

On  the  second  occasion  I  tried  directly  after  the  waking 
stage  was  complete ;  and  then  the  recognition  was  immediate 
and  certain.  But  in  a  few  minutes  it  had  become  vague  and 
dim,  and  before  the  end  of  the  day  it  had  again  completely 
ceased. 

Sequel  to  Sitting  No.  13,  which  had  lasted  from  11.10  to 
i.io  on  %d  December,  1906 

After  lunch  I  took  eleven  photographs  of  men,  and  asked  Mrs. 
Piper  if  she  had  ever  seen  any  of  them.  She  looked  over  them, 
hesitating  on  the  one  representing  Mr.  Joseph  Marble  for  some  time, 
and  then  picked  that  out  and  said  she  had  seen  that  man  somewhere, 
but  she  could  not  remember  where.  Nothing  was  said  by  me  during 
the  process,  of  course. 

Next  day,  in  the  evening,  I  tested  Mrs.  Piper  again  with  another 
set  of  photographs  of  men,  partly  the  same  and  partly  different, 
but  containing  among  others  the  critical  one.  This  time,  however, 
it  was  looked  at  without  comment  and  without  interest,  and  no 
remembrance  of  the  appearance  seemed  to  persist.  She  remembered 
the  fact  of  having  recognised  one  before;  but  when  asked  to  do  it 
again,  she  picked  out,  after  much  hesitation,  a  different  one  as  a 


OTHER  EXPERIENCES  323 

possibility,  and  said  that  she  thought  it  had  been  found  in  America 
that  the  memory  evaporated  in  time,  and  that  it  was  strongest  within 
an  hour  of  the  sitting.  The  test  made  the  day  before  had  been 
made  about  an  hour  and  a  half  after  the  sitting  at  which  '  Mr. 
Marble  '  had  been  one  of  the  communicators. 


Sequel  to  Waking  Stage  of  No.  14,  on  iqth  May,  1907 

(A  number  of  men's  photographs  were  placed  in  a  row 
before  her  as  soon  as  she  had  come  to:  she  immediately 
pounced  on  one  without  the  slightest  hesitation.) 
That  is  the  man  I  saw.     I  saw  him.     That  is  the  man  I  saw. 
I  saw  him  up  there:  such  a  nice  face.     I  could  see  him. 
I  could  see  Mr.  Hodgson  pushing  him  up  to  the  front. 
[The  selection  was  correct;  the  photograph  was  one  of  the 
person   she   calls  Joe,   L   e.   of   the  late   Mr.   Joseph 
Marble.] 

(An  hour  or  so   later.     I   again  put  the  photographs  in 
front  of  her.     She  looked  at  them  as  if  for  the  first 
time,  and  said) 
I  do  not  know  the  photographs. 

(She  then  hesitated  long  over  the  right  one,  saying  she  had 

"  seen  him  somewhere,"  but  finished  up  by  saying) 
No,  I  do  not  know. 

COMMENT 

The  result  of  this  experiment,  with  other  experiences  re- 
lating to  the  description  of  the  personal  appearance  of  a 
person  spoken  of  in  a  trance,  has  satisfied  me  that  —  what- 
ever may  be  the  cause  —  a  visual  likeness  of  the  people 
supposed  to  be  communicating  in  the  trance  is  sometimes 
really  impressed  at  the  time  upon  the  sub-conscious  mind  of 
Mrs.  Piper.  A  veridical  dream  impression  seems  to  be 
caused  in  these  cases;  but  like  other  dream  impressions  it 


324  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

fades.  The  visual  expression  is  merely  an  extension  of  the 
impression  of  character  and  of  speech,  which  is  also  im- 
pressed upon  the  same  stratum  of  her  subconsciousness,  and 
is  of  a  similarly  evanescent  character. 

During  trance  undoubtedly  her  subconsciousness  is  thus, 
at  least  occasionally,  in  touch  with  a  simulacrum  or  hallu- 
cinatory representation  of  a  deceased  person, —  whatever  be 
the  cause  —  a  telepathic  impression  received  from  the  sitter 
perhaps,  or,  as  appears  more  likely,  from  the  surviving  in- 
fluence of  the  deceased  person. 

That  much  is  certain;  and  to  deny  that,  is  merely  to  refuse 
to  be  informed  by  facts  of  experience.  But  of  what  nature 
this  evanescent  but  for  a  time  vivid  impression  of  appear- 
ance and  character  and  personality  really  is,  is  a  more  diffi- 
cult question,  on  which  at  present  I  do  not  feel  competent  to 
express  an  opinion.  For  what  it  is  worth,  however,  my 
instinct  leads  me  to  judge  that  it  is  not  solely  due  to  a 
telepathic  impulse  from  the  sitter  —  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  sympathy  and  understanding  of  the  sitter  is  a  great  help, 
and  indeed  a  determining  cause  why  one  set  of  impressions 
is  produced  and  not  a  totally  different  set.  Undoubtedly 
the  existence  of  real  interest  and  affection  on  the  part  of  a 
person  present  is  an  awakening  cause  of  a  particular  veridical 
impression.  It  is  that  which  determines  the  selection,  out 
of  the  infinite  multitude  of  other  impressions  which  otherwise 
might  equally  well  be  produced.  But  although  sympathy 
of  this  kind  is  the  selective  and  determining  cause,  I  do  not 
feel  that  it  is  the  creative  or  constructive  cause.  It  appears 
to  me  that  there  is  an  agency  or  energy  lying  ready  which 
is  capable  of  arousing  in  the  subconsciousness  of  an  entranced 
person,  or  of  persons  endowed  with  automatic  faculty,  a  vast 
multitude  of  impressions  —  good,  bad  and  indifferent;  and 


OTHER  EXPERIENCES  325 

that  out  of  this  multitude  of  possible  impressions  some  arc 
selected  with  more  or  less  discrimination  as  appropriate  to 
a  particular  case, —  the  presence  of  a  sitter  being  the  detent 
or  trigger  which  liberates  or  guides  the  energy  in  one  direc- 
tion and  not  in  another. 

On  the  whole,  these  experiences,  with  many  others  which 
are  omitted,  tend  to  render  certain  the  existence  of  some  out- 
side intelligence  or  control,  distinct  from  the  consciousness, 
and  as  far  as  I  can  judge  from  the  subconsciousness  also,  of 
Mrs.  Piper  or  other  medium.  And  they  tend  to  render 
probable  the  working  hypothesis,  on  which  I  choose  to  pro- 
ceed, that  that  version  of  the  nature  of  the  intelligences  which 
they  themselves  present  and  favour  is  something  like  the 
truth.  In  other  words  I  feel  that  we  are  in  secondary  or 
tertiary  touch  —  at  least  occasionally  —  with  some  stratum 
of  the  surviving  personality  of  the  individuals  who  are  rep- 
resented as  sending  messages. 

I  call  the  touch  secondary,  because  it  is  always  through 
the  medium  and  not  direct;  and  I  call  it  generally  tertiary, 
because  it  represents  itself  as  nearly  always  operating  through 
an  agency  or  medium  on  that  side  also  —  an  agency  which 
calls  itself  "  Rector  "  or  "  Phinuit."  That  these  latter  im- 
personations are  really  themselves  individuals,  I  do  not  ven- 
ture either  to  assert  or  deny;  but  it  is  difficult  or  impossible 
to  bring  them  to  book,  and  an  examination  of  their  nature 
may  be  deferred:  it  is  the  impersonation  of  verifiable  or 
terrestrially  known  individuals  to  which  it  behoves  us  in  the 
first  instance  to  pay  attention. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  sittings  in  the  Mrs.  Grove 
case  —  at  some  of  which  I  was  present  —  must  be  regarded 
as  among  the  most  strictly  evidential  of  all;  for  a  decided 
unity  of  character  and  of  message  is  preserved,  no  matter 


326  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

through  what  medium  the  communication  comes.  Similar 
messages  had  come  when  Mrs.  Grove  had  sat  with  Mrs. 
Thompson  and  other  mediums. 


DEDUCTIONS 

A  careful  analysis  and  examination  of  the  facts,  both  for 
and  against  the  genuine  activity  of  deceased  Communicators, 
has  been  made  by  Dr.  Hodgson,  and  will  be  found  in  his 
Report  in  Proceedings,  vol.  xiii.,  pages  357-412.  (Ex- 
tracts are  quoted  above  in  Chapter  XVIII.)  He  is  led  dis- 
tinctly to  countenance,  and  indeed  to  champion,  a  cautious 
and  discriminating  form  of  spiritistic  theory, —  not  as  a 
working  hypothesis  only,  but  as  truly  representing  part  of 
the  facts.  His  experience  was  so  large,  and  his  critical  fac- 
ulty so  awake,  that  such  a  conclusion  of  his  is  entitled  to  the 
gravest  consideration.  If  I  had  to  pronounce  a  prematurely 
decided  opinion,  my  own  view  would  agree  with  his. 

The  old  series  of  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper  convinced  me 
of  survival,  for  reasons  which  I  should  find  it  hard  to  formu- 
late in  any  strict  fashion,  but  that  was  their  distinct  effect. 
They  also  made  me  suspect  —  or  more  than  suspect  —  that 
surviving  intelligences  were  in  some  cases  consciously  com- 
municating,—  yes,  in  some  few  cases  consciously;  though 
more  usually  the  messages  came  in  all  probability  from  an 
unconscious  stratum,  being  received  by  the  medium  in  an 
inspirational  manner  analogous  to  psychometry. 

The  hypothesis  of  surviving  intelligence  and  personality, 
—  not  only  surviving  but  anxious  and  able  with  difficulty  to 
communicate, —  is  the  simplest  and  most  straightforward, 
and  the  only  one  that  fits  all  the  facts.  But  the  process  of 
communication  is  sophisticated  by  many  influences,  so  that 


OTHER  EXPERIENCES  327 

it  is  very  difficult,  perhaps  at  present  impossible,  to  disen- 
tangle and  exhibit  clearly  the  part  that  each  plays. 

One  thirtg  that  conspicuously  suggests  itself  is  that  we  are 
here  made  aware,  through  these  trivial  but  illuminating  facts, 
of  a  process  which  by  religious  people  has  always  been  recog- 
nised and  insisted  on,  viz.,  the  direct  interaction  of  incarnate 
with  disincarnate  mind, —  that  is  to  say,  an  intercourse  be- 
tween mind  and  mind  in  more  than  one  grade  of  existence, 
by  means  apart  from,  and  independent  of,  the  temporary 
mechanism  of  the  body. 

The  facts  indeed  open  the  way  to  a  perception  of  the 
influence  of  spirit  generally,  as  a  guiding  force  in  human  and 
terrestrial  affairs, — active  not  under  the  exceptional  circum- 
stances of  trance  alone,  but  always  and  constantly  and  nor- 
mally,—  so  uniformly  active  in  fact  that  by  ordinary  people 
the  agency  is  undetected  and  unperceived.  Most  people  are 
far  too  busy  to  attend:  they  are  too  thoroughly  occupied 
with  what  for  the  time  arc  certainly  extremely  important 
affairs.  A  race  of  inspired  people  would  be  hopelessly  un- 
practical,—  though  Society  is  usually  grateful  for  the  exist- 
ence and  utterance  of  a  few  individuals  of  this  type. 

The  fact  that  these  communications  are  obtained  through 
subconscious  agency  is  sometimes  held  to  militate  against 
their  importance  as  a  subject  of  study.  But  have  not  men 
of  genius  sometimes  testified  that  brilliant  ideas  do  surge 
up  into  their  consciousness  from  some  submerged  stratum, 
at  a  time  when  they  are  incompletely  awake  to  the  things  of 
this  world?  And  ordinary  people  are  aware  that  a  brown 
study  favours  the  conscious  reception  of  something  presum- 
ably akin  to  inspiration,  by  relegating  ordinary  experience 
to  the  background,  and  thereby  enabling  new  and  unfamiliar 
ideas  to  enter  or  germinate  in  the  mind. 


328  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

A  trance,  or  any  state  of  complete  unconsciousness,  renders 
the  normal  though  obscure  activity  of  an  unfamiliar  psy- 
chical region  still  more  manifest.  Not  indeed  to  the  patient 

—  who  is  unaware  of  the  whole  phenomenon,  or  remembers 
it  only  after  the  indistinct  and  temporary  fashion  of  a  dream 

—  but  to  an  observer  or  experimenter,  who  is  allowed  to 
enlarge  his  experience  and  to  receive  impressions  by  deputy; 
thereby  attaining,  at  second  hand,  some  of  the  privileges  of 
intuition  or  clairvoyance,  or  even  of  genius,  while  he  him- 
self remains  in  an  ordinary  and  business-like  condition.     His 
experience  in  fact  may  be  regarded  as  an  undeserved,  and 
therefore  only  moderately  valuable,  kind  of  vicarious  inspi- 
ration. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  CROSS- 
CORRESPONDENCE 

THE  subject  of  cross-correspondence  is  so  large  and 
complicated  that  any  one  who  wishes  to  form  an 
opinion  on  it  is  bound  to  study  the  detailed  publi- 
cations by  Mr.  Piddington,  Mrs.  Verrall,  Miss  Johnson, 
and  others,  in  recent  volumes  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  So- 
ciety for  Psychical  Research.  It  would  be  impossible  other- 
wise to  give  the  critical  and  substantial  study  which  the  elab- 
orate literary  references  demand.  Whatever  else  they  are, 
they  are  eminently  communications  from  a  man  of  letters,  to 
be  interpreted  by  scholars,  and  they  are  full  of  obscure  clas- 
sical allusions.  And  parenthetically  I  may  here  state,  as  a 
noteworthy  fact,  that  nowadays  even  through  Mrs.  Piper 
such  scholarly  allusions  are  obtained, —  not  obvious  and  ele- 
mentary ones,  but  such  as  exhibit  a  range  of  reading  far 
beyond  that  of  ordinary  people  —  beyond  my  own  for  in- 
stance —  and  beyond  that  of  anyone  present  at  the  time. 
The  facts  on  which  this  statement  is  based  have  not  yet 
(October,  1909)  been  published. 

Returning  to  the  general  subject  of  cross-correspondence, 
—  the  main  feature  of  this  kind  of  communication  is  that  we 
are  required  to  study,  not  the  phenomena  exhibited  by  a 
single  medium  actuated  by  a  number  of  ostensible  controls, 
as  heretofore,  but  conversely  the  utterance  of  one  ostensible 
control  effected  through  the  contributory  agency  of  several 
different  mediums ; —  who  write  automatically  quite  independ- 

329 


330  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

ently  of  each  other,  who  are  at  a  distance  from  each  other, 
who  are  sometimes  unknown  to  each  other,  and  who  at  first 
were  unaware  that  any  kind  of  correspondence  was  going  on. 

In  many  cases,  moreover,  the  messages  as  separately  ob- 
tained were  quite  unintelligible,  and  only  exhibited  a  meaning 
when  they  were  subsequently  put  together  by  another  person. 
So  that  the  content  of  the  message  was  in  no  living  mind 
until  the  correspondences  were  detected  by  laborious  crit- 
icism a  year  or  two  later;  then  at  last  the  several  parts  were 
unified  and  the  whole  message  and  intention  made  out. 

The  object  of  this  ingenious  and  complicated  effort  clearly 
is  to  prove  that  there  is  some  definite  intelligence  underlying 
the  phenomena,  distinct  from  that  of  any  of  the  automatists, 
—  by  sending  fragments  of  a  message  or  literary  reference 
which  shall  be  unintelligible  to  each  separately, —  so  that  no 
effective  mutual  telepathy  is  possible  between  them  —  thus 
eliminating  or  trying  to  eliminate  what  had  long  been  recog- 
nised by  all  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
as  the  most  troublesome  and  indestructible  of  the  semi-nor- 
mal hypotheses.  And  the  further  object  is  evidently  to 
prove  as  far  as  possible,  by  the  substance  and  quality  of  the 
message,  that  it  is  characteristic  of  the  one  particular  person- 
ality who  is  ostensibly  communicating,  and  of  no  other. 

That  has  clearly  been  the  aim  of  the  communicators  them- 
selves. Whether  or  not  they  have  been  successful  is  a  ques- 
tion which  it  may  take  some  time  and  study  finally  and 
conclusively  to  decide. 

If  a  student  is  to  form  a  first  hand  judgment  of  any  value 
on  this  subject,  he  must,  as  I  have  said,  read  in  full  the  elab- 
orate papers  of  Mr.  Piddington  and  Miss  Johnson  and  Mrs. 
Verrall  in  the  important  recent  volumes  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Society ;  which  is  no  light  task. 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCE  331 

DISCOVERY  OF  CROSS-CORRESPONDENCES 

But  as  giving  the  best  introductory  and  purely  initial 
account  of  this  large  and  evidently  growing  subject,  I  will 
quote  from  the  paper  of  our  Research  Officer,  Miss  John- 
son, her  Chapter  VII.  called  "  The  Theory  of  Cross-cor- 
respondences," since  it  was  through  her  patient  care  and 
perspicacity  that  the  existence  of  such  things,  on  the  way  to 
something  like  their  present  striking  form,  was  first  demon- 
strated. 

It  opens  with  a  quotation  from  the  writings  of  F.  W.  H. 
Myers  which  illustrates  his  attitude  to  the  subject  when 
living : — 

"  It  is  not  we  who  are  in  reality  the  discoverers  here.  The  ex- 
periments which  are  being  made  are  not  the  work  of  earthly  skill. 
All  that  we  can  contribute  to  the  new  result  is  an  attitude  of  pa- 
tience, attention,  care;  an  honest  readiness  to  receive  and  weigh 
whatever  may  be  given  into  our  keeping  by  intelligences  beyond  our 
own.  Experiments,  I  say,  there  are;  probably  experiments  of  a 
complexity  and  difficulty  which  surpass  our  imagination;  but  they 
are  made  from  the  other  side  of  the  gulf,  by  the  efforts  of  spirits 
who  discern  pathways  and  possibilities  which  for  us  are  impenetrably 
dark." — (Human  Personality,  vol.  ii.,  p.  275). 

And  then  it  continues : — 

In  Human  Personality  Mr.  Myers  hints  more  than  once 
at  a  favourite  theory  of  his  that  the  influence  of  science  on 
modern  thought  is  not  confined  to  this  life  alone,  but  may 
be  carried  on  into  the  next,  and  so  tend  to  improve  the  evi- 
dence for  communication  from  the  dead.  The  latter,  he  sug- 
gests, are  coming  to  understand  more  and  more  clearly  what 
constitutes  really  good  evidence,  and  may  gradually  discover 
better  means  of  producing  it.  [In  the  above  passage  he  for- 


332  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

mulates  this  conjecture  most  clearly,  and]  it  would  seem 
from  our  recent  investigations  that  some  such  experiments  as 
he  there  foreshadowed  may  actually  be  taking  place. 

Mr.  Myers  and  Dr.  Hodgson  made  attempts  at  different 
times  to  obtain  connections  between  the  utterances  —  either 
spoken  or  written  —  of  different  automatists.  It  is  by  no 
means  easy  even  to  obtain  suitable  conditions  for  trying  such 
experiments,  and  unfortunately,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  no 
complete  record  of  these  attempts  seems  to  exist.  Some  ref- 
ences  to  them,  however,  occur  in  a  number  of  letters  written 
by  Mr.  Myers  to  Mrs.  Thompson;  for  instance  on  October 
24th,  1898,  he  wrote  as  follows: 

"  Dr.  Hodgson  is  staying  on  in  America  for  the  winter, 
sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper.  It  would  be  grand  if  we  could  get 
communication  between  the  '  controls '  on  each  side." 

Some  interesting  connexions  between  tht,  automatisms  of 
Mrs.  Thompson  and  those  of  other  sensitives  were  already 
recorded  in  Mr.  Piddington's  paper  "  On  the  Types  of  Phe- 
nomena displayed  in  Mrs.  Thompson's  Trance  "  in  Proceed- 
ings, S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xviii.,  pp.  104—307. 

But  the  most  notable  development  of  cross  correspondence, 
and  the  first  appearance  of  a  really  complicated  and  remark- 
ably evidential  type  of  them,  have  taken  place  since  Mr. 
Myers's  death. 

This  was  shown  first  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script,  and  a  con- 
siderable section  of  her  Report  on  it  (Proc.,  vol.  xx.,  pp.  205— 
275)  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  cross-correspondences 
between  her  script  and  the  script  or  automatic  speech  of 
other  automatists. 

In  studying  these  in  proof  in  the  early  part  of  1906, — 
says  Miss  Johnson,  our  Research  Officer  —  I  was  struck  by 
the  fact  that  in  some  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  the 
statements  in  the  script  of  one  writer  were  by  no  means  a 
simple  reproduction  of  statements  in  the  script  of  the  other, 
but  seemed  to  represent  different  aspects  of  the  same  idea, 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCE  333 

one  supplementing  or  completing  the  other.  Thus,  in  one 
case  (p.  223),  Mrs.  Forbes's  script,  purporting  to  come  from 
her  son  Talbot,  stated  that  he  must  now  leave  her,  since  he 
was  looking  for  a  sensitive  who  wrote  automatically,  in  order 
that  he  might  obtain  corroboration  of  her  own  writing. 
Mrs.  Verrall,  on  the  same  day,  wrote  of  a  fir-tree  planted  in 
a  garden,  and  the  script  was  signed  with  a  sword  and  sus- 
pended bugle.  The  latter  was  part  of  the  badge  of  the  regi- 
ment to  which  Talbot  Forbes  had  belonged,  and  Mrs.  Forbes 
had  in  her  garden  some  fir-trees,  grown  from  seed  sent  to  her 
by  her  son.  These  facts  were  unknown  to  Mrs.  Verrall. 

In  another  case  (pp.  241-245) —  too  complicated  to  sum- 
marise here  —  Mrs.  Forbes  produced,  on  November  26th 
and  27th,  1902,  references,  absolutely  meaningless  to  herself, 
to  a  passage  in  the  Symposium  which  Mrs.  Verrall  had  been 
reading  on  these  days.  These  references  also  applied  ap- 
propriately to  an  obscure  sentence  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  own 
script  of  November  26th;  and  on  December  i8th,  attempts 
were  made  in  Mrs.  Forbes's  script  to  give  a  certain  test 
word,  "  Dion  "  or  "  Dy,"  which,  it  was  stated,  "  will  be 
found  in  Myers'  own.  .  .  ."  Mrs.  Verrall  interpreted 
the  test  word  at  the  time,  for  reasons  given,  as  "  Diotima," 
and  a  description  of  the  same  part  of  the  Symposium,  in- 
cluding the  mention  of  Diotima,  did  occur  in  Human  Per- 
sonality, which  was  published  about  three  months  later,  in 
February,  1903.  Further  references  to  the  Symposium  ap- 
peared in  Mrs.  Forbes's  script  in  the  early  part  of  1903  (see 
Mrs.  Verrall's  Report,  p.  246) . 

In  another  case  (pp.  269-271),  October  i6th,  1904,  Mrs. 
Verrall's  script  gave  details,  afterwards  verified,  of  what 
Mrs.  Forbes  was  doing;  and  immediately  afterwards  Mrs. 
Verrall  had  a  mental  impression  of  Mrs.  Forbes  sitting  in 
her  drawing-room,  with  the  figure  of  her  son  standing  look- 
ing at  her.  Mrs.  Forbes's  script  of  the  same  day,  purport- 
ing to  come  from  her  son,  stated  that  he  was  present  and 
wished  she  could  see  him,  and  that  a  test  was  being  given  for 
her  at  Cambridge. 

I  became  convinced  through  the  study  of  these  cases  that 
there  was  some  special  purpose  in  the  particular  form  they 


334  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

took, —  all  the  more  because  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  state- 
ments were  often  associated  with  them,  apparently  to  draw 
attention  to  some  peculiar  kind  of  test, —  described,  e.g.  as 
superposing  certain  things  on  others,  when  all  would  be 
clear. 

The  characteristic  of  these  cases  —  or  at  least  of  some  of 
them  —  is  that  we  do  not  get  in  the  writing  of  one  auto- 
matist  anything  like  a  mechanical  verbatim  reproduction  of 
phrases  in  the  other;  we  do  not  even  get  the  same  idea  ex- 
pressed in  different  ways, —  as  might  well  result  from  di- 
rect telepathy  between  them.  What  we  get  is  a  fragmentary 
utterance  in  one  script,  which  seems  to  have  no  particular 
point  or  meaning,  and  another  fragmentary  utterance  in  the 
other,  of  an  equally  pointless  character;  but  when  we  put  the 
two  together,  we  see  that  they  supplement  one  another,  and 
that  there  is  apparently  one  coherent  idea  underlying  both, 
but  only  partially  expressed  in  each. 

It  occurred  to  me,  then,  that  by  this  method,  if  by  any, 
it  might  be  possible  to  obtain  evidence  more  conclusive  than 
any  obtained  hitherto  of  the  action  of  a  third  intelligence, 
external  to  the  minds  of  both  automatists.  If  we  simply 
find  the  same  idea  expressed  —  even  though  in  different 
forms  —  by  both  of  them,  it  may,  as  I  have  just  said,  most 
easily  be  explained  by  telepathy  between  them;  but  it  is  much 
more  difficult  to  suppose  that  the  telepathic  perception  of  one 
fragment  could  lead  to  the  production  of  another  fragment 
which  can  only,  after  careful  comparison,  be  seen  to  be  re- 
lated to  the  first. 

The  weakness  of  all  well-authenticated  cases  of  apparent 
telepathy  from  the  dead  is,  of  course,  that  they  can  gen- 
erally be  explained  by  telepathy  from  the  living.  If  the 
knowledge  displayed  by  the  medium  is  possessed  by  any 
person  certainly  existing, —  that  is,  any  living  person, —  we 
must  refer  it  to  that  source  rather  than  to  a  person  whose 
existence  is  uncertain, —  that  is,  a  dead  person.  To  do 
otherwise  would  be  to  beg  the  whole  question  at  issue,  for 
the  very  thing  to  be  proved  is  the  existence  of  the  dead  per- 
son. 

Hitherto  the  evidence  for  survival  has  depended  on  state- 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCE  335 

ments  that  seem  to  show  the  control's  recollection  of  inci- 
dents in  his  past  life.  It  would  be  useless  for  him  to  com- 
municate telepathically  anything  about  his  present  life,  be- 
cause there  could  be  no  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  communica- 
tion. This  is  the  fundamental  difference  between  the  types 
of  evidence  for  telepathy  from  the  living  and  for  telepathy 
from  the  dead. 

Now,  telepathy  relating  to  the  present,  such  as  we  some- 
times get  between  living  persons,  must  be  stronger  eviden- 
tially than  telepathy  relating  to  the  past,  because  it  is  much 
easier  to  exclude  normal  knowledge  of  events  in  the  present 
than  of  events  in  the  past.  But  it  has  been  supposed  impossi- 
ble that  we  could  ever  get  this  kind  of  evidence  for  telepathy 
from  the  dead;  since  events  in  the  present  are  either  known 
to  some  living  person  —  in  which  case  we  could  not  exclude 
his  telepathic  agency, —  or  they  are  unknown  to  any  living 
person,  in  which  case  it  would  be  difficult  or  impossible  to 
prove  that  they  had  occurred. 

In  these  cross-correspondences,  however,  we  find  appa- 
rently telepathy  relating  to  the  present, —  that  is,  the  corre- 
sponding statements  are  approximately  contemporaneous, — 
and  to  events  in  the  present  which,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, are  unknown  to  any  living  person;  since  the  mean- 
ing and  point  of  her  script  is  often  uncomprehended  by  each 
automatist  until  the  solution  is  found  through  putting  the 
two  scripts  together.  At  the  same  time  we  have  proof  of 
what  has  occurred  [i.e.  some  special  indication  that  a  cor- 
respondence is  being  attempted]  in  the  scripts  themselves. 
Thus  it  appears  that  this  method  is  directed  towards  satisfy- 
ing our  evidential  requirements. 

Now,  granted  the  possibility  of  communication,  it  may  be 
supposed  that  within  the  last  few  years  a  certain  group  of 
persons  have  been  trying  to  communicate  with  us,  who  are 
sufficiently  well  instructed  to  know  all  the  objections  that 
reasonable  sceptics  have  urged  against  the  previous  evidence, 
and  sufficiently  intelligent  to  realise  to  the  full  all  the  force 
of  these  objections.  It  may  be  supposed  that  these  persons 
have  invented  a  new  plan, —  the  plan  of  cross-corespond- 
ences, —  to  meet  the  sceptics'  objections.  There  is  no  doubt 


336  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

that  the  cross-correspondences  are  a  characteristic  element 
in  the  scripts  that  we  have  been  collecting  in  the  last  few 
years, —  the  scripts  of  Mrs.  Verrall,  Mrs.  Forbes,  Mrs.  Hol- 
land, and,  still  more  recently,  Mrs.  Piper.  And  the  import- 
ant point  is  that  the  element  is  a  new  one.  We  have  reason 
to  believe,  as  I  have  shown  above,  that  the  idea  of  making  a 
statement  in  one  script  complementary  of  a  statement  in  an- 
other had  not  occurred  to  Mr.  Myers  in  his  lifetime, —  for 
there  is  no  reference  to  it  in  any  of  his  written  utterances  on 
the  subject  that  I  have  been  able  to  discover.  Neither  did 
those  who  have  been  investigating  automatic  script  since  his 
death  invent  this  plan,  if  plan  it  be.  It  was  not  the  auto- 
matists  themselves  that  detected  it,  but  a  student  of  their 
scripts;  it  has  every  appearance  of  being  an  element  im- 
ported from  outside;  it  suggests  an  independent  invention,  an 
active  intelligence  constantly  at  work  in  the  present,  not  a 
mere  echo  or  remnant  of  individualities  of  the  past. 

Yes,  it  suggests  an  independent  invention  —  an  active 
intelligence  constantly  at  work  in  the  present,  not  a  mere  echo 
or  remnant  of  Individualities  of  the  past. 

And  so  the  matter  has  gone  on  developing,  and  a  still 
further  and  more  elaborate  system  of  evidently  experimental 
and  designed  cross-correspondence  has  now  been  discovered 
by  Mr.  Piddington  in  scripts  of  the  automatists  mentioned, 
when  independently  compared  together;  with  veiled  state- 
ments in  those  same  scripts  which  symbolically  but  definitely 
claim  that  such  correspondences  are  to  be  found  if  looked 
for.  Those  so  far  discovered  are  reported  in  the  Society's 
Proceedings  —  a  series  of  documents  upon  a  consideration 
of  which  I  do  not  propose  to  enter,  since  at  this  stage  they 
are  not  capable  of  effective  abridgement. 

SUMMARY 

Summarising  once  more  our  position  as  regards  cross-cor- 
respondence —  we  have  in  the  course  of  the  last  few  years 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCE  337 

been  driven  to  recognise  that  the  controls  are  pertinaciously 
trying  to  communicate  now  one  now  another  definite  idea 
by  means  of  two  or  more  different  automatists,  whom  at  the 
same  time  they  are  trying  to  prevent  from  communicating 
telepathically  or  unconsciously  with  one  another;  and  that 
in  order  to  achieve  this  deliberate  aim  the  controls  express 
the  factors  of  the  idea  in  so  veiled  a  form  that  each  writer 
indites  her  own  share  without  understanding  it.  Yet  some 
identifying  symbol  or  phrase  is  often  included  in  each  script, 
so  as  to  indicate  to  a  critical  examiner  that  the  correspondence 
is  intended  and  not  accidental;  and,  moreover,  the  idea  thus 
co-operatively  expressed  is  so  definite  that,  when  once  the 
clue  is  found,  no  room  is  left  for  doubt  as  to  the  proper  inter- 
pretation. 

That  is  precisely  what  we  have  quite  recently  again  and 
again  obtained.  We  are  told  by  the  communicators  that 
there  are  other  correspondences  not  yet  detected  by  us ;  and 
by  more  careful  collation  of  the  documents  this  has  already 
been  found  true.  The  evidence  needs  careful  and  critical 
study;  it  is  not  in  itself  sensational,  but  it  affords  strong  evi- 
dence of  the  intervention  of  a  mind  behind  and  independent 
of  the  automatist. 

If  this  be  so  —  says  the  present  President  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research,  Mrs.  Sidgwick  —  the  question  what 
mind  this  is  becomes  of  extreme  interest  and  importance. 
Can  it  be  a  mind  still  in  the  body?  or  have  we  got  into  rela- 
tion with  minds  which  have  survived  bodily  death  and  are 
endeavouring  by  means  of  the  cross-correspondences  to  pro- 
duce evidence  of  their  operation?  If  this  last  hypothesis 
be  the  true  one,  it  would  mean  that  intelligent  co-operation 
between  other  than  embodied  human  minds  and  our  own,  in 
experiments  of  a  new  kind  intended  to  prove  continued  ex- 
istence, has  become  possible;  and  we  should  be  justified  ia 


338  AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

feeling  that  we  are  entering  on  a  new  and  very  important 
stage  of  the  Society's  work. 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  purport  and  full  bearing  of  a 
judgment  which,  though  still  in  form  hypothetical,  I  hold 
for  my  own  part  to  be  fully  justified : —  Intelligent  co-opera- 
tion between  other  than  embodied  human  minds  and  our  own 
has  become  possible. 

It  is  surely  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  importance  of  so 
momentous  an  induction  when  it  can  finally  be  made. 

Man's  practical  outlook  upon  the  universe  is  entering 
upon  a  new  phase.  Simultaneously  with  the  beginning  of 
a  revolutionary  increase  in  his  powers  of  physical  locomotion 
—  which  will  soon  be  extended  into  a  third  dimension  and  no 
longer  limited  to  a  solid  or  liquid  surface  —  his  power  of 
reciprocal  mental  intercourse  also  is  in  process  of  being  en- 
larged; for  there  are  signs  that  it  will  some  day  be  no  longer 
limited  to  contemporary  denizens  of  earth,  but  will  permit  a 
utilisation  of  knowledge  and  powers  superior  to  his  own, 
even  to  the  extent  of  ultimately  attaining  trustworthy  infor- 
mation concerning  other  conditions  of  existence. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

TENTATIVE  CONCLUSION 

IF  we  now  try  to  summarise  once  more  the  position  at 
which  we  have  so  far  arrived  —  which  I  have  endeav- 
oured to  express  in  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the 
preceding  chapter  —  we  shall  represent  it  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows : — 

The  evidence  for  the  survival  of  man,  that  is  for  the 
persistence  of  human  intelligence  and  individual  personality 
beyond  bodily  death,  has  always  been  cumulative;  and  now, 
through  recent  developments  of  the  ancient  phenomenon  of 
automatic  writing,  it  is  beginning  to  be  crucial. 

The  fame  of  Mrs.  Piper  has  spread  into  all  lands,  and  I 
should  think  the  fame  of  Mrs.  Verrall  also.  In  these  recent 
cases  of  automatism  the  Society  has  been  singularly  fortu- 
nate, for  in  the  one  we  have  a  Medium  who  has  been  under 
strict  supervision  and  competent  management  for  the  greater 
part  of  her  psychical  life;  and  in  the  other  we  have  one  of 
the  sanest  and  acutest  of  our  own  investigators  fortunately 
endowed  with  some  power  herself, —  some  power  of  acting 
as  translator  or  interpreter  between  the  psychical  and  the 
physical  worlds.  There  are  also  other  ladies  to  some  ex- 
tent concerned  in  the  recent  unsensational  but  most  intelligent 
phenomena, —  especially  the  one  known  as  Mrs.  Holland, — 
who  are  likewise  above  any  suspicion  of  duplicity.  But, 
indeed,  the  whole  thing  has  been  so  conducted  that  no  du- 
plicity, either  conscious  or  unconscious,  can  rationally  be  sus- 
pected: everything  has  been  deposited  at  the  time  with 

339 


340 

responsible  persons  outside  the  sphere  of  influence,  and  we 
are  at  liberty  to  learn  what  we  can  from  the  record  of  the 
phenomena,  unperturbed  by  any  moral  suspicions. 

And  what  do  we  find? 

We  find  deceased  friends  —  some  of  them  well  known  to 
us  and  active  members  of  the  Society  while  alive  —  espe- 
cially Gurney,  Hodgson,  and  Myers  —  constantly  purporting 
to  communicate,  with  the  express  purpose  of  patiently  prov- 
ing their  identity  and  giving  us  cross-correspondences  between 
different  mediums.  We  also  find  them  answering  specific 
questions  in  a  manner  characteristic  of  their  known  personali- 
ties and  giving  evidence  of  knowledge  appropriate  to  them. 

Not  easily  or  early  do  we  make  this  admission.  In  spite 
of  long  conversations  with  what  purported  to  be  the  sur- 
viving intelligence  of  these  friends  and  investigators,  we  were 
by  no  means  convinced  of  their  identity  by  mere  general  con- 
versation,—  even  when  of  a  friendly  and  intimate  character, 
such  as  in  normal  cases  would  be  considered  amply  and  over- 
whelmingly sufficient  for  the  identification  of  friends  speak- 
ing, let  us  say,  through  a  telephone  or  a  typewriter.  We 
required  definite  and  crucial  proof  —  a  proof  difficult  even 
to  imagine  as  well  as  difficult  to  supply. 

The  ostensible  communicators  realise  the  need  of  such 
proof  just  as  fully  as  we  do,  and  have  done  their  best  to 
satisfy  the  rational  demand.  Some  of  us  think  they  have 
succeeded,  others  are  still  doubtful. 

The  following  is  Mrs.  Verrall's  conclusion  after  years  of 
first-hand  experience  and  careful  testing : — 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  "  communicator  "  of  the 
Piper  sittings  and  of  my  own  script  presents  a  consistent 
personality  dramatically  resembling  that  of  the  person  whom 
he  claims  to  be. 

I  entirely  acquiesce  in  this  judgment.     In  fact,  I  am  of 


TENTATIVE  CONCLUSION  341 

those  who,  though  they  would  like  to  see  further  and  still 
stronger  and  more  continued  proofs,  are  of  opinion  that  a 
good  case  has  been  made  out,  and  that  as  the  best  working 
hypothesis  at  the  present  time  it  is  legitimate  to  grant  that 
lucid  moments  of  intercourse  with  deceased  persons  may  in 
the  best  cases  supervene; — amid  a  mass  of  supplementary 
material,  quite  natural  under  the  circumstances,  but  mostly 
of  a  presumably  subliminal  and  less  evidential  kind. 

The  boundary  between  the  two  states  —  the  known  and 
the  unknown  —  is  still  substantial,  but  it  is  wearing  thin  in 
places ;  and  like  excavators  engaged  in  boring  a  tunnel  from 
opposite  ends,  amid  the  roar  of  water  and  other  noises,  we 
are  beginning  to  hear  now  and  again  the  strokes  of  the  pick- 
axes of  our  comrades  on  the  other  side. 

So  we  presently  come  back  out  of  our  tunnel  into  the  light 
of  day  and  relate  our  experience  to  a  busy  and  incredulous, 
or  in  some  cases  too  easily  credulous,  world.  We  expect 
to  be  received  with  incredulity;  though  doubtless  we  shall  be 
told  in  some  quarters  that  it  is  all  stale  news,  that  there  has 
been  access  to  the  other  side  of  the  mountain  range  from 
time  immemorial,  and  that  our  laboriously  constructed  tun- 
nel was  quite  unnecessary.  Agile  climbers  may  have  been 
to  the  top  and  peeped  over.  Flying  messages  from  the  other 
side  may  have  arrived;  pioneers  must  have  surveyed  the 
route.  But  we,  like  the  navvies,  are  unprovided  with  wings, 
we  dig  and  work  on  the  common  earth,  our  business  is  to 
pierce  the  mountain  at  some  moderate  elevation,  and  con- 
struct a  permanent  road  or  railway  for  the  service  of  hu- 
manity. 

What  we  have  to  announce,  then,  is  no  striking  novelty, 
no  new  mode  of  communication,  but  only  the  reception,  by 
old  but  developing  methods,  of  carefully  constructed  evidence 
of  identity  more  exact  and  more  nearly  complete  than  per- 


342          AUTOMATISM  AND  LUCIDITY 

haps  ever  before.  Carefully  constructed  evidence,  I  say. 
The  constructive  ingenuity  exists  quite  as  much  on  the  other 
side  of  the  partition  as  on  our  side :  there  has  been  distinct 
co-operation  between  those  on  the  material  and  those  on  the 
immaterial  side;  and  we  are  at  liberty,  not  indeed  to  an- 
nounce any  definite  conclusion,  but  to  adopt  as  a  working 
hypothesis  the  ancient  doctrine  of  a  possible  intercourse  of 
intelligence  between  the  material  and  some  other,  perhaps 
ethereal,  order  of  existence. 

Some  people  have  expected  or  hoped  to  communicate  with 
Mars;  it  appears  likely  that  recognised  communication  may 
some  day  occur  with  less  removed,  and  indeed  less  hypo- 
thetical, dwellers  in  (or  perhaps  not  in)  the  realm  of  space. 

But  let  us  not  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  the  idea  of 
space  no  longer  means  anything  to  persons  removed  from  the 
planet.  They  are  no  longer  in  touch  with  matter  truly,  and 
therefore  can  no  longer  appeal  to  our  organs  of  sense,  as 
they  did  when  they  had  bodies  for  that  express  purpose ;  but, 
for  all  we  know,  they  may  exist  in  the  ether  and  be  as  aware 
of  space  and  of  the  truths  of  geometry,  though  not  of  geog- 
raphy, as  we  are.  Let  us  not  jump  to  the  conclusion  that 
their  condition  and  surroundings  are  altogether  and  utterly 
different.  That  is  one  of  the  things  we  may  gradually  find 
out  not  to  be  true. 

Meanwhile  is  there  anything  that  provisionally  and  ten- 
tatively we  can  say  that  is  earnestly  taught  to  those  who  are 
willing  to  make  the  hypothesis  that  the  communications  are 
genuine? 

The  first  thing  we  learn,  perhaps  the  only  thing  we  clearly 
learn  in  the  first  instance,  is  continuity.  There  is  no  such 
sudden  break  in  the  conditions  of  existence  as  may  have  been 
anticipated;  and  no  break  at  all  in  the  continuous  and  con- 
scious identity  of  genuine  character  and  personality.  Essen- 


TENTATIVE  CONCLUSION  343 

tial  belongings,  such  as  memory,  culture,  education,  habits, 
character,  and  affection, —  all  these,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
tastes  and  interests, —  for  better  for  worse  are  retained. 
Terrestrial  accretions,  such  as  worldly  possessions,  bodily 
pain  and  disabilities,  these  for  the  most  part  naturally  drop 
away. 

Meanwhile  it  would  appear  that  knowledge  is  not  suddenly 
advanced  —  it  would  be  unnatural  if  it  were, —  we  are  not 
suddenly  flooded  with  new  information, —  nor  do  we  at  all 
change  our  identity;  but  powers  and  faculties  are  enlarged, 
and  the  scope  of  our  outlook  on  the  universe  may  be  widened 
and  deepened,  if  effort  here  has  rendered  the  acquisition  of 
such  extra  insight  legitimate  and  possible. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  doubtless  some  whom  the 
removal  of  temporary  accretion  and  accidents  of  existence 
will  leave  in  a  feeble  and  impoverished  condition;  for  the 
things  are  gone  in  which  they  trusted,  and  they  are  left  poor 
indeed.  Such  doctrines  have  been  taught,  on  the  strength 
of  vision  and  revelation,  quite  short  of  any  recognised  Divine 
revelation,  for  more  than  a  century.  The  visions  of  Sweden- 
borg,  divested  of  their  exuberant  trappings,  are  not  wholly 
unreal,  and  are  by  no  means  wholly  untrue.  There  is  a  gen- 
eral consistency  in  the  doctrines  that  have  thus  been  taught 
through  various  sensitives,  and  all  I  do  is  to  add  my  testi- 
mony to  the  rational  character  of  the  general  survey  of  the 
universe  indicated  by  Myers  in  his  great  and  eloquent  work. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

IT  behoves  me  who  have  learnt  so  much  from  the  Pio- 
neers and  Founders  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search not  to  conclude  this  book, —  which  attempts  to 
set  forth  in  some  detail  an  outline  of  the  less  orthodox  facts 
by  which  among  other  things  I  have  been  led  to  my  views  con- 
cerning the  universe, —  without  emphasising  the  debt  I  owe 
to  those  who  have  immediately  preceded  me  in  this  study; 
and  I  can  discharge  the  debt  most  compactly  by  quoting  here 
the  Address  which  I  gave  to  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search shortly  after  the  death  of  its  President  of  1900  —  on 
the  occasion  when  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  succeed  him  in  the  Chair. 

IN  MEMORY  OF  F.  W.  H.  MYERS 

'Apvv/ievos  rjv  re  ^vxV  Ka'  voarov  iraipwv 

Who  would  have  thought  a  year  ago,  when  our  Secretary 
and  joint  Founder  at  length  consented  to  be  elected  Presi- 
dent, that  we  should  so  soon  be  lamenting  his  decease? 

When  Henry  Sidgwick  died,  the  Society  was  orphaned; 
and  now  it  is  left  desolate.  Of  the  original  chief  founders, 
Professor  Barrett  alone  remains ;  for  Mr.  Podmore,  the  only 
other  member  of  the  first  Council  still  remaining  on  it,  was 
not  one  of  the  actual  founders  of  the  Society.  Neither  the 
wisdom  of  Sidgwick  nor  the  energy  and  power  of  Myers  can 
by  any  means  be  replaced.  Our  loss  is  certain,  but  the  blow 
must  not  be  paralysing.  Rather  it  must  stimulate  those 

344 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  345 

that  remain  to  fresh  exertions,  must  band  us  together,  deter- 
mined that  a  group  of  workers  called  together  for  a  pioneer- 
ing work,  for  the  founding  and  handing  on  to  posterity  of 
a  new  science,  must  not  be  permitted  to  disband  and  scatter 
till  their  work  is  done.  That  work  will  not  be  done  in  our 
lifetime;  it  must  continue  with  what  energy  and  wisdom  we 
can  muster,  and  we  must  be  faithful  to  the  noble  leaders  who 
summoned  us  together,  and  laid  this  burden  to  our  charge. 

I,  unworthy,  am  called  to  this  Chair.  I  would  for  every 
reason  that  it  could  have  been  postponed;  but  it  is  the  wish 
of  your  Council;  I  am  told  that  it  was  the  wish  of  Myers, 
and  I  regard  it  as  a  duty  from  which  I  must  not  shrink. 

The  last  communication  which  my  predecessor  made  was 
in  memory  of  Henry  Sidgwick:  my  own  first  communication 
must  be  in  memory  of  Frederic  Myers. 

To  how  many  was  he  really  known  ?  I  wonder.  Known 
in  a  sense  he  was  to  all,  except  the  unlettered  and  the  igno- 
rant. Known  in  reality  he  was  to  very  few.  But  to  the 
few  who  were  privileged  to  know  him,  his  is  a  precious 
memory:  a  memory  which  will  not  decay  with  the  passing 
of  the  years.  I  was  honoured  with  his  intimate  friendship. 
I  esteem  it  one  of  the  privileges  of  my  life. 

To  me,  though  not  to  me  alone,  falls  the  duty  of  doing 
some  justice  to  his  memory.  I  would  that  I  might  be  in- 
spired for  the  task. 

I  was  not  one  of  those  who  knew  him  as  a  youth,  and 
my  acquaintance  with  him  ripened  gradually.  Our  paths  in 
life  were  wide  apart,  and  our  powers  were  different:  our 
powers,  but  not  out  tastes.  He  could  instruct  me  in  litera- 
ture and  most  other  things,  I  could  instruct  him  in  science; 
he  was  the  greedier  learner  of  the  two.  I  never  knew  a 
man  more  receptive,  nor  one  with  whom  it  was  a  greater 
pleasure  to  talk.  His  grasp  of  science  was  profound:  I 


346  IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

do  not  hesitate  to  say  it,  though  many  who  did  not  really 
know  him  will  fail  to  realise  that  this  was  possible;  nor 
was  he  fully  conscious  of  it  himself.  Even  into  some  of 
the  more  technical  details,  when  they  were  properly  pre- 
sented, he  could  and  did  enter,  and  his  mind  was  in  so 
prepared  a  state  that  any  fact  once  sown  in  it  began  promptly 
to  take  root  and  bud.  It  was  not  a  detailed  knowledge  of 
science  that  he  possessed,  of  course,  but  it  was  a  grasp,  a 
philosophic  grasp,  of  the  meaning  and  bearing  of  it  all, — 
not  unlike  the  accurately  comprehending  grasp  of  Tennyson. 
And  again  and  again  in  his  writings  do  we  find  the  facts, 
which  his  mind  had  thus  from  many  sources  absorbed,  utilised 
for  the  purpose  of  telling  and  brilliant  illustrations,  and  made 
to  contribute  each  its  quota  to  his  Cosmic  scheme. 

For  that  is  what  he  was  really  doing,  all  through  this 
last  quarter  of  a  century:  he  was  laying  the  foundation  for 
a  cosmic  philosophy,  a  scheme  of  existence  as  large  and  com- 
prehensive and  well  founded  as  any  that  have  appeared. 

Do  I  mean  that  he  achieved  such  a  structure?  I  do  not. 
A  philosophy  of  that  kind  is  not  to  be  constructed  by  the 
labour  of  one  man,  however  brilliant;  and  Myers  laboured 
almost  solely  on  the  psychological  side.  He  would  be  the 
first  to  deprecate  any  exaggeration  of  what  he  has  done; 
but  he  himself  would  have  admitted  this, —  that  he  strenu- 
ously and  conscientiously  sought  facts,  and  endeavoured  to 
construct  his  cosmic  foundation  by  their  aid  and  in  their 
light,  and  not  in  the  dark  gropings  of  his  own  unaided  in- 
telligence. 

To  me  it  has  seemed  that  most  philosophers  suffer  from 
a  dearth  of  facts.  In  the  past  necessarily  so,  for  the  scientific 
exploration  of  the  physical  universe  is,  as  it  were,  a  thing 
of  yesterday.  Our  cosmic  outlook  is  very  different  from 
that  of  the  ancients,  is  different  even  from  that  of  philoso- 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  347 

phers  of  the  middle  of  the  century,  before  the  spectroscope 
was  invented,  before  Darwin  and  Wallace  wrote,  before 
many  discoveries  connected  with  less  familiar  household 
words  than  these:  in  the  matter  of  physical  science  alone 
the  most  recent  philosopher  must  needs  have  some  advan- 
tage. But  this  is  a  small  item  in  his  total  outfit,  mental 
phenomena  must  contribute  the  larger  part  of  that;  and  the 
facts  of  the  mind  have  been  open  —  it  is  generally  assumed 
—  from  all  antiquity.  This  is  in  great  degree  true,  and 
philosophers  have  always  recognised  and  made  use  of  these 
facts,  especially  those  of  the  mind  in  its  normal  state.  Yet 
in  modern  science  we  realise  that  to  understand  a  thing  thor- 
oughly it  must  be  observed  not  only  in  its  normal  state  but 
under  all  the  conditions  into  which  it  can  be  thrown  by 
experiment, —  every  variation  being  studied  and  laid  under 
contribution  to  the  general  understanding  of  the  whole. 

And,  I  ask,  did  any  philosopher  ever  know  the  facts  of 
the  mind  in  health  and  in  disease  more  profoundly,  with 
more  detailed  and  intimate  knowledge,  drawn  from  personal 
inquiry,  and  from  the  testimony  of  all  the  savants  of  Eu- 
rope, than  did  Frederic  Myers?  He  laid  under  contribu- 
tion every  abnormal  condition  studied  in  the  Salpetriere,  in 
hypnotic  trance,  in  delirium,  every  state  of  the  mind  in 
placidity  and  in  excitement.  He  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  curious  facts  of  multiple  personality,  of  clairvoyant  vision, 
of  hallucinations,  automatisms,  self-suggestion,  of  dreams, 
and  of  the  waking  visions  of  genius. 

It  will  be  said  that  Hegel,  and  to  some  extent  Kant  also, 
as  well  as  other  philosophers,  recognised  some  ultra-normal 
mental  manifestations,  and  allowed  a  place  for  clairvoyance 
in  their  scheme.  All  honour  to  those  great  men  for  doing 
so,  in  advance  of  the  science  of  their  time;  but  how  could 
they  know  all  that  we  know  to-day?  Fifty  years  ago  the 


348  IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

facts  even  of  hypnotism  were  not  by  orthodox  science  ac- 
cepted; such  studies  as  were  made,  were  made  almost  surrep- 
titiously, here  and  there,  by  some  truth-seeker  clear-sighted 
enough  to  outstep  the  fashion  of  his  time  and  to  look  at 
things  with  his  own  eyes.  But  only  with  difficulty  could  he 
publish  his  observations,  and  doubtless  many  were  lost  for 
fear  of  ridicule  and  the  contempt  of  his  professional  brethren. 

But  now  it  is  different :  not  so  different  as  it  ought  to  be, 
even  yet;  but  facts  previously  considered  occult  are  now  in- 
vestigated and  recorded  and  published  in  every  country  of 
Europe.  The  men  who  observe  them  are  too  busy  to  unify 
them;  they  each  contribute  their  portion,  but  they  do  not 
7  grasp  the  whole :  the  grasping  of  the  whole  is  the  function  of 
a  philosopher.  I  assert  that  Myers  was  that  philosopher. 

Do  I  then  in  my  own  mind  place  him  on  a  pedestal  by 
the  side  of  Plato  and  Kant?  God  forbid!  I  am  not  one 
to  juggle  with  great  names  and  apportion  merit  to  the  sages 
of  mankind.  Myers's  may  not  be  a  name  which  will  sound 
down  the  ages  as  an  achiever  and  builder  of  a  system  of 
truth;  but  I  do  claim  for  him  that  as  an  earnest  pioneer  and 
industrious  worker  and  clear-visioned  student,  he  has  laid  a 
foundation,  perhaps  not  even  a  foundation  but  a  corner- 
stone, on  ground  more  solid  than  has  ever  been  available 
before;  and  I  hold  that  the  great  quantity  of  knowledge 
now  open  to  any  industrious  truth-seeker  gives  a  man  of 
modest  merit  and  of  self-distrustful  powers,  a  lever,  a  ful- 
crum, more  substantial  than  those  by  which  the  great  men 
of  antiquity  and  of  the  middle  ages  were  constrained  to  ac- 
complish their  mighty  deeds. 

Myers  left  behind  two  unpublished  volumes  on  Human 
Personality, —  left  them,  alas,  not  finished,  not  finally  fin- 
ished; how  nearly  finished  I  do  not  know.  I  read  fractions 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  349 

of  them  as  they  left  his  pen,  and  to  me  they  seemed  likely 
to  be  an  epoch-making  work. 

They  are  doubtless  finished  enough:  more  might  have 
been  done,  they  might  have  been  better  ordered,  more  highly 
polished,  more  neatly  dove-tailed,  had  he  lived;  but  they 
represent  for  all  time  his  real  life  work,  that  for  which  he 
was  willing  to  live  labourious  days;  they  represent  what  he 
genuinely  conceived  to  be  a  message  of  moment  to  humanity : 
they  are  his  legacy  to  posterity;  and  in  the  light  of  the  facts 
contained  in  them  he  was  willing  and  even  eager  to  die. 

The  termination  of  his  life,  which  took  place  at  Rome 
in  presence  of  his  family,  was  physically  painful  owing  to 
severe  attacks  of  difficult  breathing  which  constantly  pre- 
ceded sleep;  but  his  bearing  under  it  all  was  so  patient  and 
elevated  as  to  extort  admiration  from  the  excellent  Italian 
doctor  who  attended  him.  And  in  a  private  letter  by  an  eye- 
witness his  departure  was  described  as  "  a  spectacle  for  the 
Gods;  it  was  most  edifying  to  see  how  a  genuine  conviction 
of  immortality  can  make  a  man  indifferent  to  what  to  or- 
dinary people  is  so  horrible." 

In  the  intervals  of  painful  breathing  he  quoted  from  one 
of  his  own  poems  ("The  Renewal  of  Youth," — which  he 
preferred  to  earlier  and  better-known  poems  of  his,  and 
from  which  alone  I  quote)  : 

"Ah,  welcome  then  that  hour  which  bids  thee  lie 
In  anguish  of  thy  last  infirmity! 
Welcome  the  toss  for  ease,  the  gasp  for  air, 
The  visage  drawn,  and  Hippocratic  stare; 
Welcome  the  darkening  dream,  the  lost  control, 
The  sleep,  the  swoon,  the  arousal  of  the  soul !  " 

Death  he  did  not  dread.     That  is  true;  and  his  clear  and 


350  IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

happy  faith  was  the  outcome  entirely  of  his  scientific  re- 
searches. The  years  of  struggle  and  effort  and  systematic 
thought  had  begotten  in  him  a  confidence  as  absolute  and  su- 
preme as  is  to  be  found  in  the  holiest  martyr  or  saint.  By 
this  I  mean  that  it  was  not  possible  for  any  one  to  have  a 
more  absolute  and  childlike  confidence  that  death  was  a  mere 
physical  event.  To  him  it  was  an  adversity  which  must 
happen  to  the  body,  but  it  was  not  one  of  those  evil  things 
which  may  assault  and  hurt  the  soul. 

An  important  and  momentous  event  truly,  even  as  birth 
is;  a  temporary  lapse  of  consciousness,  even  as  trance  may 
be;  a  waking  up  to  strange  and  new  surroundings,  like  a  more 
thorough  emigration  than  any  that  can  be  undertaken  on  a 
planet;  but  a  destruction  or  lessening  of  power,  no  whit. 
Rather  an  enhancement  of  existence,  an  awakening  from  this 
earthly  dream,  a  casting  off  of  the  trammels  of  the  flesh, 
and  putting  on  of  a  body  more  adapted  to  the  needs  of  an 
emancipated  spirit,  a  wider  field  of  service,  a  gradual  oppor- 
tunity of  re-uniting  with  the  many  who  have  gone  before. 
So  he  believed,  on  what  he  thought  a  sure  foundation  of  ex- 
perience, and  in  the  strength  of  that  belief  he  looked  forward 
hopefully  to  perennial  effort  and  unending  progress: 

"  Say,  could  aught  else  content  thee  ?  which  were  best, 
After  so  brief  a  battle  an  endless  rest, 
Or  the  ancient  conflict  rather  to  renew, 
By  the  old  deeds  strengthened  mightier  deeds  to  do?" 

Such  was  his  faith:  by  this  he  lived,  and  in  this  he  died. 
Religious  men  in  all  ages  have  had  some  such  faith,  perhaps 
a  more  restful  and  less  strenuous  faith;  but  to  Myers  the 
faith  did  not  come  by  religion:  he  would  have  described 
himself  as  one  who  walked  by  sight  and  knowledge  rather 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  351 

than  by  faith,  and  his  eager  life-long  struggle  for  knowledge 
was  in  order  that  he  might  by  no  chance  be  mistaken. 

To  some,  conviction  of  this  kind  would  be  impossible  — 
they  are  the  many  who  know  not  what  science  is.  To  others, 
conviction  of  this  kind  seems  unnecessary  —  they  are  the 
favoured  ones  who  feel  that  they  have  grasped  all  needed 
truth  by  revelation  or  by  intuition.  But  by  a  few  here  and 
there,  even  now,  this  avenue  to  knowledge  concerning  the 
unseen  is  felt  to  be  open.  Myers  believed  that  hereafter 
it  would  become  open  to  all.  He  knew  that  the  multitude 
could  appreciate  science  no  more,  perhaps  less,  than  they  can 
appreciate  religion;  but  he  knew  further  that  when  presently 
any  truth  becomes  universally  accepted  by  scientific  men,  it 
will  penetrate  downwards  and  be  accepted  by  ordinary  per- 
sons, as  they  now  accept  any  other  established  doctrine, — 
such  as  the  planetary  position  of  the  earth  in  the  solar  system, 
or  the  evolution  of  species, —  not  because  they  have  really 
made  a  study  of  the  matter,  but  because  it  is  a  part  of  the 
atmosphere  into  which  they  were  born. 

If  continuity  of  existence  and  intelligence  across  the  gulf 
of  death  really  can  ever  be  thus  proved,  it  surely  is  a  de- 
sirable and  worthy  object  for  science  to  aim  at.  There  be 
some  religious  men  of  little  faith  who  resent  this  attempted 
intrusion  of  scientific  proof  into  their  arena;  as  if  they  had 
a  limited  field  which  could  be  encroached  upon.  Those  men 
do  not  realise,  as  Myers  did,  the  wealth  of  their  inheritance. 
They  little  know  the  magnitude  of  the  possibilities  of  the 
universe,  the  unimagined  scope  of  the  regions  still,  and  per- 
haps for  ever,  beyond  the  grasp  of  what  we  now  call  science. 

There  was  a  little  science  in  my  youth  which  prided  itself 
upon  being  positive  knowledge,  and  sought  to  pour  scorn  up- 
on the  possibility,  say,  of  prayer  or  of  any  mode  of  communi- 


352  IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

cation  between  this  world  and  a  purely  hypothetical  other. 
Honest  and  true  and  brilliant  though  narrow  men  held  these 
beliefs  and  promulgated  these  doctrines  for  a  time :  they  did 
good  service  in  their  day  by  clearing  away  some  superstition, 
and,  with  their  healthy  breezy  common-sense,  freeing  the 
mind  from  cant, —  that  is,  from  the  conventional  utterance 
of  phrases  embodying  beliefs  only  half  held.  I  say  no  word 
against  the  scientific  men  of  that  day,  to  whom  were  opposed 
theologians  of  equal  narrowness  and  of  a  more  bitter  temper. 
But  their  warlike  energy,  though  it  made  them  effective 
crusaders,  left  their  philosophy  defective  and  their  science 
unbalanced.  It  has  not  fully  re-attained  equilibrium  yet. 
With  Myers  the  word  Science  meant  something  much  larger, 
much  more  comprehensive:  it  meant  a  science  and  a  philo- 
sophy and  a  religion  combined.  It  meant,  as  it  meant  to 
Newton,  an  attempt  at  a  true  cosmic  scheme.  His  was  no 
purblind  outlook  on  a  material  universe  limited  and  condi- 
tioned by  our  poor  senses.  He  had  an  imagination  wider 
than  that  of  most  men.  Myers  spoke  to  me  once  of  the* 
possibility  that  the  parts  of  an  atom  move  perhaps  inside 
the  atom  in  astronomical  orbits,  as  the  planets  move  in  the 
solar  system,  each  spaced  out  far  away  from  others  and 
not  colliding,  but  altogether  constituting  the  single  group  or 
system  we  call  the  atom, —  a  microcosm  akin  to  the  visible 
cosmos;  which  again  might  be  only  an  atom  of  some  larger 
whole.  I  was  disposed  at  that  time  to  demur.  I  should 
not  demur  now;  the  progress  of  science  within  the  *ast  few 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  makes  the  first  part  of  this 
thesis  extremely  probable.  On  the  latter  part  too  there  is 
more  to  be  said  than  is  generally  known.  Physics  and 
astronomy  are  rapidly  advancing  in  this  direction. 

Nor  was  it  only  upon  material  things  that  he  looked  with 
the  eye  of  prescience  and  of  hope.     I  never  knew  a  man  so 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  353 

hopeful  concerning  his  ultimate  destiny.  He  once  asked 
me  whether  I  would  barter  —  if  it  were  possible  —  my  un- 
known destiny,  whatever  it  might  be,  for  as  many  seons  of 
unmitigated  and  wise  terrestrial  happiness  as  might  last  till 
the  secular  fading  of  the  sun,  and  then  an  end. 

He  would  not  I  No  limit  could  satisfy  him.  That  which 
he  was  now  he  only  barely  knew, —  for  to  him  not  the  whole 
of  each  personality  is  incarnate  in  this  mortal  flesh,  the  sub- 
liminal self  still  keeps  watch  and  ward  beyond  the  threshold, 
and  is  in  touch  always  with  another  life, —  but  that  which 
he  might  come  to  be  hereafter  he  could  by  no  means 
guess :  OUTTCO  tyavepuOrj  ri  iao^Oa.  Gradually  and  perhaps 
through  much  suffering,  from  which  indeed  he  sensitively 
shrank,  but  through  which  nevertheless  he  was  ready  to  go, 
he  believed  that  a  being  would  be  evolved  out  of  him, — 
"  even,"  as  he  would  say,  "  out  of  him" —  as  much  higher 
in  scale  of  creation  as  he  now  was  above  the  meanest  thing 
that  crawls. 

Nor  yet  an  end.  Infinity  of  infinities  —  he  could  conceive 
no  end,  of  space  or  time  or  existence,  nor  yet  of  development : 
though  an  end  of  the  solar  system  and  truerefore  of  mankind 
seemed  to  him  comparatively  imminent  — 

"  That  hour  may  come  when  Earth  no  more  can  keep 
Tireless  her  year-long  voyage  thro'  the  deep; 
Nay,  when  all  planets,  sucked  and  swept  in  one, 
Feed  their  rekindled  solitary  sun; — 
Nay,  when  all  suns  that  shine,  together  hurled, 
Crash  in  one  infinite  and  lifeless  world: — 
Yet  hold  thou  still,  what  worlds  soe'er  may  roll, 
'Naught  bear  they  with  them  master  of  the  soul; 
In  all  the  eternal  whirl,  the  cosmic  stir, 
All  the  eternal  is  akin  to  her; 
She  shall  endure,  and  quicken,  and  live  at  last, 
When  all  save  souls  has  perished  in  the  past." 


354  IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

Infinite  progress,  infinite  harmony,  infinite  love, —  these 
were  the  things  which  filled  and  dominated  his  existence. 
Limits  for  him  were  repellant  and  impossible.  Limits  con- 
ditioned by  the  flesh  and  by  imperfection, —  by  rebellion, 
blindness,  and  error, —  these  are  obvious,  these  he  admitted 
and  lamented  to  the  full;  but  ultimate  limits,  impassable  bar- 
riers, cessation  of  development,  a  highest  in  the  scale  of  be- 
ing beyond  which  it  was  impossible  to  go, —  these  he  would 
not  admit,  these  seemed  to  him  to  contradict  all  that  he  had 
gleaned  of  the  essence  and  meaning  of  existence. 

Principalities  and  Powers  on  and  on,  up  and  up,  without 
limit  now  and  for  ever, —  this  was  the  dominant  note  of 
his  mind;  and  if  he  seldom  used  the  word  God  except  in 
poetry,  or  employed  the  customary  phrases,  it  was  because 
everything  was  so  supremely  real  to  him;  and  "  God,"  the 
personified  totality  of  existence,  too  blinding  a  conception 
to  conceive. 

For  practical  purposes  something  less  lofty  served,  and  he 
could  return  from  cosmic  speculations  to  the  simple  every- 
day life,  which  is  for  all  of  us  the  immediate  business  in 
hand,  and  which,  if  patiently  pursued,  seemed  to  him  to  lead 
to  more  than  could  be  desired  or  deserved  — 

"  Live  thou  and  love !  so  best  and  only  so 
Can  thy  one  soul  into  the  One  Soul  flow, — 
Can  thy  small  life  to  Life's  great  centre  flee, 
And  thou  be  nothing,  and  the  Lord  in  thee." 

This  is  an  expression  of  himself:  it  was  not  so  much  his 
creed  as  himself.  He  with  his  whole  being  and  personality 
—  at  first  slowly  and  painfully,  with  many  rebuffs  and  after 
much  delay  and  hesitation,  but  in  the  end  richly  and  en- 
thusiastically —  rose  to  this  height  of  emotion,  of  conviction, 
and  of  serenity;  though  perhaps  to  few  he  showed  it. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  355 

"Either  we  cannot  or  we  hardly  dare 
Breathe  forth  that  vision  into  earthly  air; 
And  if  ye  call  us  dreamers,  dreamers  then 
Be  we  esteemed  amid  you  waking  men; 
Hear  us  or  hear  not  as  ye  choose;  but  we 
Speak  as  we  can,  and  are  what  we  must  be." 

Not  that  he  believed  easily:  let  no  man  think  that  his 
faith  came  easily  and  cost  him  nothing.  He  has  himself 
borne  witness  to  the  struggle,  the  groanings  that  could  not 
be  uttered.  His  was  a  keenly  emotional  nature.  What  he 
felt,  he  felt  strongly ;  what  he  believed,  he  believed  in  no  half- 
hearted or  conventional  manner.  When  he  doubted,  he 
doubted  fiercely;  but  the  pain  of  the  doubt  only  stimulated 
him  to  effort,  to  struggle;  to  know  at  least  the  worst,  and 
doubt  no  longer.  He  was  content  with  no  half  knowledge, 
no  clouded  faith,  he  must  know  or  he  must  suffer,  and  in  the 
end  he  believed  that  he  knew. 

Seeker  after  Truth  and  Helper  of  his  comrades 

is  a  line  in  his  own  metre,  though  not  a  quotation,  which 
runs  in  my  mind  as  descriptive  of  him;  suggested  doubtless 
by  that  line  from  the  Odyssey  which,  almost  in  a  manner  at 
his  own  request,  I  have  placed  in  the  fore-front  of  this  essay. 
For  he  speaks  of  himself  in  an  infrequent  autobiographical 
sentence  as  having  "  often  a  sense  of  great  solitude,  and  of 
an  effort  beyond  my  strength;  *  striving,' —  as  Homer  says  of 
Oydsseus  in  a  line  which  I  should  wish  graven  on  some 
tablet  in  my  memory, — '  striving  to  save  my  own  soul  and 
my  comrades'  homeward  way.'  ' 

But  the  years  of  struggle  and  effort  brought  in  the  end 
ample  recompense,  for  they  gave  him  a  magnificent  power 
to  alleviate  distress.  He  was  able  to  communicate  some- 
thing of  his  assurance  to  others,  so  that  more  than  one  be- 
reaved friend  learned  to  say  with  him  — 


356  IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS 

"  What  matter  if  thou  hold  thy  loved  ones  prest 
Still  with  close  arms  upon  thy  yearning  breast, 
Or  with  purged  eyes  behold  them  hand  in  hand 
Come  in  a  vision  from  that  lovely  land, — 
Or  only  with  great  heart  and  spirit  sure 
Deserve  them  and  await  them  and  endure; 
Knowing  well,  no  shocks  that  fall,  no  years  that  flee, 
Can  sunder  God  from  these,  or  God  from  thee; 
Nowise  so  far  thy  love  from  theirs  can  roam 
As  past  the  mansions  of  His  endless  home." 

To  how  many  a  sorrowful  heart  his  words  have  brought 
hope  and  comfort,  letters,  if  ever  published,  will  one  day 
prove.  The  deep  personal  conviction  behind  his  message 
drove  it  home  with  greater  force,  nor  did  it  lose  influence 
because  it  was  enfranchised  from  orthodox  traditions,  and 
rang  with  no  hollow  professional  note. 

There  are  those  who  lament  that  with  his  undoubted 
powers  as  a  man  of  letters  he  to  some  extent  deserted  the 
sunny  fields  of  pure  literature  for  the  rugged  tracts  of  scien- 
tific inquiry;  but  indeed  the  two  were  closely  blended.  It  is, 
as  Dr.  Walter  Leaf  has  said,  impossible  to  appreciate  Myers 
without  insisting  on  this  interfusion : — 

The  essay  on  his  best-beloved  Virgil  is  perhaps  that  of  all 
his  utterances  which  gives  us  most  of  his  literary  self.  And 
the  very  heart  of  Virgil  was  to  him  in  the  famous  speech  of 
Anchises  to  ^Eneas  in  Elysium  (jEn.}  vi.  724—755),  where 
the  poet  "  who  meant,  as  we  know,  to  devote  to  philosophy 
the  rest  of  his  life  after  the  completion  of  the  '^Eneid  '  "  pro- 
pounds "  an  answer  to  the  riddle  of  the  universe  in  the  unex: 
pectedly  definite  form." 

This  ultimate  subordination  of  form  to  substance,  of  art  to 
thought,  is  the  whole  story  of  Myers's  literary  work.  His 
art  gained  all  the  more  because  it  was  not  pursued  as  a  pri- 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MYERS  357 

mary  aim,  and  the  obvious  rewards  of  it  were  little  sought. 
Those  only  who  followed  the  working  of  his  aspirations  will 
adequately  recognise  his  mastery,  and  see  how  for  him  style 
was  but  the  expression  of  his  inmost  soul.  In  his  wonderful 
fragments  of  Virgilian  translation  he  reached  his  height. 
The  poet  who  was  ever  his  truest  ideal  is  transfused  till  the 
Roman  and  the  Englishman  blend  in  one  passion,  human  and 
divine,  and  the  triumphant  song  is  taken  up  and  proclaimed 
again  after  two  thousand  years  — 

"  To  God  again  the  enfranchised  soul  must  tend, 
He  is  her  home,  her  Author  is  her  end; 
No  death  is  hers;  when  earthly  eyes  grow  dim 
Starlike  she  soars  and  Godlike  melts  in  Him." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

ON  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF  AND  ON  THE 
BOOK  "HUMAN   PERSONALITY"1 

MR.  MYERS'  great  conception  of  the  subliminal 
self  has  been  adopted,  explained,  parodied,  and 
paraded,  by  several  writers,  usually  in  the  gar- 
bled and  misleading  form  that  man  has  a  dual  nature  or 
duplex  soul,  that  sometimes  the  more  usual,  and  sometimes 
the  less  usual  aspect  of  his  personality  comes  to  the  front 
and  influences  his  actions  and  thoughts.  In  the  form  of  a 
contest  between  two  rival  principles,  this  idea  is  extremely 
old;  and  in  the  form  of  a  divided  soul  or  bifurcated  per- 
sonality, a  version  of  the  conception  has  been  elaborated  by 
Mr.  Thomson  Jay  Hudson  in  an  ambitious  book  exten- 
sively read  in  America  called  "The  Law  of  Psychic  Phe- 
nomena," 2  wherein  it  is  sought  to  explain  everything,  from 
the  Christian  miracles  downwards,  by  a  crudely  stated  hy- 
pothesis of  duplex  personality  or  a  double  soul:  an  idea 
which  seems  to  have  been  borrowed,  without  acknowledg- 
ment, from  Mr.  Myers'  papers  in  the  Proceedings,  and 
spoiled  in  the  borrowing. 

And  in  a  1903  number  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  Mr. 
Mallock,  getting  hold  apparently  of  this  version  of  Mr. 
Hudson's,  has  skilfully  set  it  forth  as  if  it  were  an  explana- 
tion or  summary  of  Mr.  Myers'  own  theory;  and  has 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
Part  XLVI,  June,  1903. 

2  Reviewed  in  Proceedings  S.P.R.,  Vol.  ix,  p.  230. 

358 


"HUMAN  PERSONALITY"  359 

pointed  a  flippant  finger  of  scorn  at  the  triviality  of  the  evi- 
dence, and  at  the  futility  of  a  life-work  which  has  this  con- 
clusion for  its  result.  Few  essays  which  bear  a  superficial 
resemblance  to  the  truth  could  readily  be  more  misleading 
or  less  illuminating  than  this  article  of  Mr.  Mallock's,  and 
I  am  content  to  caution  any  student  not  to  accept  that  ostensi- 
ble summary  as  giving  any  adequate  or  true  idea  of  Mr. 
Myers'  comprehensive  treatise. 

The  doctrine  which  Mr.  Myers  arrived  at,  after  years  of 
study,  is  that  each  individual  as  we  perceive  him  is  but  a 
small  fraction  of  a  larger  whole,  is  as  it  were  the  foliage 
of  a  tree  which  has  its  main  trunk  and  its  roots  in  another 
order  of  existence;  but  that  on  this  dark  inconspicuous  and 
permanent  basis,  now  one  and  now  another  system  of  leaves 
bud,  grow,  display  themselves,  wither,  and  decay,  while 
the  great  trunk  and  roots  persist  through  many  such  tem- 
porary appearances,  not  independently  of  the  sensible  mani- 
festations, nor  unassisted  by  them,  but  supporting  them, 
dominating  them,  reproducing  them,  assimilating  their  nour- 
ishment in  the  form  of  the  elaborated  sap  called  experience, 
and  thereby  growing  continually  into  a  more  perfect  and 
larger  whole.  Many  metaphors  could  be  suggested,  but 
this  is  the  one  which  occurs  to  me  now,  and  it  carries  us  a 
certain  distance. 

As  the  tree  periodically  buds  and  blossoms  into  an  aerial 
life,  so  we  bud  and  blossom  in  a  terrestrial  life,  clothing  our- 
selves with  material  particles  for  a  time,  assimilating  and 
utilising  the  sunshine  and  the  dew,  realising  the  existence 
and  the  neighbourhood  of  other  organisms  in  a  like  stage  of 
development,  and  joyfully  availing  ourselves  of  the  conse- 
quences that  flow  from  proximity  and  contemporaneous  spe- 
cialised existence. 

The  mystery  of  incarnation  and  of  gradual  development, 


36o  "HUMAN  PERSONALITY" 

of  the  persistence  of  existence  beyond  bodily  death  and  de- 
cay, and  even  some  glimmerings  of  the  possible  meaning  of 
the  vague  dream  of  so-called  re-incarnation,  all  become  in 
some  sort  intelligible  on  a  basis  of  this  kind — the  basis  of 
a  full  and  never  wholly  manifested  persistent  self,  from 
which  periodically  sprouts  a  terrestrial  manifestation, 
though  never  twice  the  same.  Each  terrestrial  appearance 
flourishes  and  assimilates  mental  and  moral  nutriment  for 
a  time,  and  the  result  of  each  is  incorporated  in  the  constant 
and  growing  memory  of  the  underlying,  supporting,  but  in- 
conspicuously manifesting,  and  at  present  barely  recognised, 
fundamental  self. 

And  whereas  we,  the  visible  manifestations,  exposed  to 
sun  and  air,  can  signal  to  each  other  and  receive  impressions 
through  rays  of  light  and  sound  and  heat,  our  transcendental 
portions  with  roots  in  another  order  of  being  must  be  Sup- 
posed capable  of  communication  too;  they  are  individual- 
ised but  not  isolated,  being  welded  into  the  framework  of 
things  in  such  way  as  to  receive  nutriment  from  subterranean 
moisture  and  from  dying  relics  of  the  past,  even  from  things 
which  to  the  aerial  portion  seem  useless  or  noxious;  and 
they  may  thus  send  up  to  the  leaves  strange  streamings  of 
sap  laden  with  the  common  wealth  of  mother  earth. 

The  metaphor  constantly  breaks  down,  as  all  metaphors 
must  sooner  or  later;  for  some  purposes  it  would  seem  bet- 
ter that  the  tree  should  be  inverted.  The  adjective  "sub- 
liminal" contains  no  reference  to  what  is  beneath,  except  in 
the  sense  of  foundation  and  support;  in  every  other  aspect 
the  subliminal  is  probably  the  more  real  and  more  noble, 
more  comprehensive,  more  intelligent,  self,  of  which  the 
supraliminal  development  is  but  a  natural  and  healthy  and 
partial  manifestation. 

The  products  of  the  subliminal  are  to  be  regarded  as 


"HUMAN  PERSONALITY"  361 

"higher,"  in  a  definite  sense,  than  those  of  the  supraliminal. 
The  supraliminal  is  that  which  is  the  outcome  of  terrestrial 
evolution,  and  so  is  able  to  manifest  itself  in  a  planetary 
manner;  the  subliminal  has  a  cosmic  existence,  which  may 
play  a  part  in  terrestrial  evolution  hereafter,  but  at  present 
only  shows  signs  of  doing  so  in  the  supernormal  uprushes 
which  are  known  as  the  inspirations  of  genius ;  signs  which 
may  be  taken  as  anticipatory  of  the  course  of  evolution  in 
the  future. 

In  this  way  sleep,  death,  genius,  insanity,  hysteria,  hyp- 
notism, automatism,  clairvoyance,  and  all  other  disintegra- 
tions, abnormalities,  and  supernormalities  of  personality, 
fall  into  a  consistent  comprehensive  scheme ;  and  it  is  the 
object  of  Myers'  book  to  elaborate  this  hypothesis  and  to 
unify  all  these  strang  features  of  human  personality,  fea- 
tures which  have  so  long  afforded  an  exercise  alternately  to 
resolute  credulity  and  to  blatant  scepticism,  and  have  so 
perennnially  perplexed  mankind. 

The  book  begins  with  an  explanatory  and  properly  pro-' 
sale  Introduction,  and  closes  with  a  more  poetic  Epilogue. 

Successive  chapters  deal  with  the  following  subjects: 

First.  Disintegration  of  personality,  such  as  Multiple 
personality,  and  other  hysterical  and  pathological  cases. 

Second.  Genius;  w.Hch  is  one  of  the  most  illuminating 
and  brilliant  chapters  in  the  book,  where  the  man  of  genius 
so  far  from  being  regarded  as  afflicted  with  any  form  of 
nascent  insanity  is  regarded  as  the  standard  or  norm  of  the 
race — a  product  of  a  higher  stage  of  evolution  than  the 
average  man  has  yet  attained. 

Clearly  a  genius  is  one  who  can  draw  more  than  others 
on  his  central  and  sustaining  subliminal  organisation,  one 
who  can  breathe  out  products  obtained  not  from  sun  and  air 
alone,  but  from  roots  driven  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  uni- 


362  "HUMAN  PERSONALITY" 

verse :  one  whose  existence  is  not  planetary  merely,  but  cos- 
mic, and  in  whom  subliminal  uprushes  of  fructifying  sap  are 
frequent. 

The  next  chapter  deals  with  sleep,  or  the  state  when  the 
supraliminal  activities  are  dormant :  when  the  sun  has  ceased 
to  awaken  full  activities,  when  the  whole  self  is  more  massed 
together  and  partially  withdrawn  from  its  active  planetary 
existence;  and  when  by  dreams  and  visions  some  reminis- 
cence of  a  wider  though  dimmer  purview  can  sometimes  be 
retained  for  a  time  and  carried  over  into  the  waking  or 
terrestrially  conscious  existence. 

This  leads  up  to  the  chapter  which  deals  with  the  artificial 
or  experimental  induction  of  this  state,  the  chapter  on  Hyp- 
notism; a  process  whereby  the  deeper  strata  of  personality 
can  be  reached,  and  suggestion  and  other  influences  im- 
planted, which  may  subsequently  bear  fruit  in  waking  life. 
One  may  liken  this  to  gardening  operations,  such  as  grafting 
and  manuring  and  other  systems  of  treatment,  applied  not 
to  the  leaves  or  flowers  of  a  tree  direct,  but  to  its  branches 
and  roots;  operations  which  nevertheless  influence  those 
leaves  and  flowers  in  a  subsequent  and  unmistakable  manner. 

The  chapter  on  Sensory  Automatism  deals  with  those 
conditions  of  hallucination  of  the  senses  under  which  clair- 
voyance or  pseudo-sense-impressions  of  various  kinds  are 
generated:  furnishing  avenues  whereby  telepathy,  crystal 
vision,  and  other  perceptions,  not  received  through  the  nor- 
mal organs  of  sense  but  by  some  ill-understood  subliminal 
reaction,  become  possible. 

And  chapter  viii.  in  the  second  volume,  on  Motor  Au- 
tomatism, expands  this  same  region  into  the  muscular  or 
efferent  output  of  the  same  kind  of  faculty; — resulting  in 
automatic  writing,  and  other  physical  manifestations  of  sub- 
liminal activity,  whether  of  the  nature  of  inhibition  or  of 


"HUMAN  PERSONALITY"  363 

propulsion,  up  to  such  strenuously  active  but  subliminally 
guided  lives,  as  for  instance  those  of  Socrates  and  Joan  of 
Arc.  Between  these  two  is  interpolated  a  chapter  on  Phan- 
tasms of  the  Dead:  those  hallucinatory  appearances  or 
visions  of  departed  persons,  which  are  here  treated  as  an 
example  of  sensory  automatism  on  the  part  of  the  percipient, 
excited  however  in  many  cases  veridically  by  external  influ- 
ence, and  capable  of  conveying  real  information. 

And  the  chapter  on  Motor  Automatism  is  similarly  fol- 
lowed by  a  chapter  on  the  developed  form  of  the  same,  viz., 
a  chapter  headed  "Trance,  Possession,  Ecstasy,"  in  which 
certain  well-known  cases  of  veridical  trance  utterance  are 
partially  included,  though  with  many  serious  omissions,  due 
to  the  recent  occurrence  of  some  of  the  cases,  so  that  insuffi- 
cient time  had  been  afforded  for  their  complete  digestion 
and  for  a  final  decision  as  to  their  place  and  purport.  This, 
together  with  sensory  and  motor  automatisms,  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  part  of  the  subject-matter  which  has  attracted 
most  popular  attention,  and  the  part  which  when  stated  by 
itself  seems  to  excite  nothing  but  scepticism  on  the  one  hand 
and  superstition  on  the  other.  It  was  Mr.  Myers'  plan  to  so 
gradually  build  or  lead  up  to  these  strange  phenomena  that 
when  reached  they  should  be  realised  as  a  fitting  and  natural 
consequence  of  what  had  gone  before,  leaving  them  no 
longer  as  an  inaccessible  or  aerial  structure  without  founda- 
tion, but  as  the  upper  storey  of  a  large  and  lofty  building 
through  which  a  fairly  sound  staircase  had  been  constructed. 

Myers'  life-work  either  achieves  this  unification  or  it 
does  not.  If  it  does,  this  book,  as  I  suggested  last  January 
in  my  Presidential  Address  to  the  Society,  will  stand  as  a 
Novum  Organon  in  psychical  science.  If  it  does  not,  it  may 
mean  either  that  the  attempt  is  impossible,  or  that  it  still 


364  "HUMAN  PERSONALITY" 

remains  for  some  future  pioneer  to  achieve  a  task  which  for 
the  present  generation  has  turned  out  too  difficult. 

Myers  himself  took  a  modest,  but  I  think  hopeful,  view  of 
his  labours.  He  must  have  felt,  at  any  rate  his  friends  felt 
for  him,  that  by  the.  industry  of  himself  and  Gurney  and 
the  other  founders  of  the  Society,  he  had,  amassed  and 
ready  to  his  hands,  a  fund  of  material  to  draw  upon,  such 
as  no  philosopher  or  psychologist  had  ever  had  before;  and 
although  he  himself  would  have  seriously  deprecated  any 
comparison  with  the  sages  of  the  past,  some  of  us  felt  that, 
building  on  their  foundation,  utilising  their  work,  and  forti- 
fied with  such  a  vast  mass  of  modern  information,  aided  also 
by  his  classical  learning  and  by  a  great  natural  scientific  in- 
sight, with  the  opportunity  of  consulting  many  scientific 
men,  some  hostile,  some  sympathetic  to  his  researches,  and 
with  the  nineteenth  century  of  science  behind  him,  gifted 
also  with  considerable  leisure,  persistent  enthusiasm,  and 
industry,  he  was  a  man  supremely  fitted  to  push  back  the 
barriers  of  ignorance  in  this  region  farther  than  had  been 
accomplished  before,  and  to  give  to  the  human  race  an  in- 
sight into  the  hidden  faculties  and  destiny  of  man  such  as 
not  even  the  gigantic  genius  of  Plato,  nor  the  profound 
insight  of  Kant  had  been  able  to  bestow. 

It  is  not  a  matter  on  which  an  opinion  of  mine  would  be 
of  value,  nor  would  I  be  understood  as  expressing  one ;  but 
the  glorious  sense  of  having  accomplished  a  work  worthy 
of  the  serious  attention  of  humanity  has  blossomed  in  an 
Epilogue  where  the  cosmic  import  and  religious  significance 
of  the  whole  vista  of  human  faculty  is  eloquently  set  forth. 
This  specially  written  epilogue  is  happHy  completed  and 
supplemented  by  his  one  Presidential  Address  to  the  So- 
ciety, and  this  is  further  supplemented  by  two  short  es- 
says, one  on  the  ".Decline  of  Dogmatism,"  wherein  the  ulti- 


"HUMAN  PERSONALITY"  365 

mate  upshot  of  the  messages  which  claim  to  come  from  an- 
other order  of  existence  are  briefly  summarised,  and  an- 
other on  "Prayer  and  Supplication,"  regarded  from  the  illu- 
minating point  of  view  of  the  telepathic  law.  From  this  last 
I  extract  the  following  quotation : — 

"In  the  law  of  telepathy,  developing  into  the  law  of  spir- 
itual intercommunication  between  incarnate  and  discarnate 
spirits,  we  see  dimly  adumbrated  before  our  eyes  the  highest 
law  with  which  our  human  science  can  conceivably  have  to 
deal.  The  discovery  of  telepathy  opens  before  us  a  poten- 
tial communication  between  all  life.  And  if,  as  our  present 
evidence  indicates,  this  telepathic  intercourse  can  subsist 
between  embodied  and  disembodied  souls,  that  law  must 
needs  lie  at  the  very  centre  of  cosmic  evolution.  It  will  be 
evolutionary,  as  depending  on  a  faculty  now  in  actual  course 
of  development.  It  will  be  cosmic;  for  it  may — it  almost 
must — ,  by  analogy,  subsist  not  on  this  planet  only  but  wher- 
ever in  the  universe  discarnate  and  incarnate  spirits  may  be 
intermingled  or  juxtaposed." 

One  other  portion  of  the  book  must  be  mentioned,  for  it 
was  a  laborious  attempt  at  a  synthesis  or  conspectus  of  the 
whole,  viz.,  his  "Scheme  of  Vital  Faculty" — sadly  buried  by 
the  arrangement  of  the  book  between  pages  505  and  555 
of  the  second  volume — a  scheme  wherein  the  usual  orthodox 
view  of  the  tripartite  nature  of  man  is  utilised,  and  each 
vital  faculty  is  displayed  under  the  aspects  appropriate  to 
the  three  heads,  somatic,  psychic,  and  pneumatic;  or,  as  he 
styles  them,  supraliminal,  subliminal,  and  spiritual.  The 
scheme  was  the  result  of  a  great  deal  of  thought,  but  it  is 
open  to  question  in  many  points  of  detail,  and  Myers  would 
have  been  the  last  to  insist  that  each  subject  is  classified  pre- 
cisely in  the  most  appropriate  manner,  or  that  it  always  fits 
the  niche  provided  for  it.  At  the  same  time  it  would  be  well 
for  future  students  to  realise  that  Myers  had  a  reason  for 


366  "HUMAN  PERSONALITY" 

his  system  of  classification,  and  that  though  it  may  be 
changed,  it  is  worthy  of  being  changed  not  lightly,  but  after 
due  consideration. 

How  far  such  a  scheme  as  this  soars  above  the  range  of 
the  orthodox  science  of  to-day  is  apparent  from  the  fact 
that  few  of  the  faculties  catalogued  and  classified  in  it,  be- 
yond those  in  the  first  category,  are  as  yet  generally  recog- 
nised as  existing  at  all.  A  few  from  the  second  or  middle 
category  are  coming  into  recognition — such  as  suggestion, 
hyperaesthesia,  psycho-therapeutics,  and  telepathy — but  the 
greater  part  even  of  this  second  list  is  still  only  on  the  out- 
skirts of  recognised  knowledge;  while  in  Myers'  view  it  is 
the  third  and  at  present  wholly  ultra-scientific  category  which 
lies  in  the  path  of  future  knowledge  and  development,  and 
constitutes  the  most  pregnant  portion  of  his  message  to 
mankind. 

It  is  not  to  be  claimed  for  a  moment  that  these  volumes 
will  convince  a  reader  of  the  survival  of  personality  beyond 
bodily  death,  if  he  was  previously  hostile  to  or  otherwise 
fortified  against  such  an  idea.  Perhaps  they  will  convince 
nobody:  I  see  no  reason  why  they  should.  The  main  object 
of  the  book  is  not  edification  and  finality,  but  stimulation  to 
enquiry;  convictions  of  any  value  are  seldom  attained  by 
mere  reading:  they  can  only  be  formed  by  soaking  one's  mind 
in  a  subject  for  years,  by  "continually  thinking  unto  it,"  as 
Newton  said.  As  the  outcome  of  such  a  process  it  became 
Myers'  undoubted  belief  that  intelligence  and  human  per- 
sonality persist  beyond  bodily  death ;  and  that,  between  the 
two  states  or  conditions  of  being,  intercommunication  though 
extremely  difficult  was  not  altogether  impossible.  But  this 
conclusion  of  his  has  been  popularly  seized  and  over-empha- 
sised till  to  many  contemporaries  it  seems  that  an  easy  credu- 
lity on  this  point  was  his  characteristic  attitude.  Nothing 


"HUMAN  PERSONALITY"  367 

could  be  further  from  the  truth.  Easy  credulity  does  not 
lead  to  a  life-long  labour  and  evolution  of  a  comprehensive 
scheme  such  as  this.  To  those  who  have  not  been  through 
it,  the  assured  conviction  which  was  the  outcome  of  his  long 
training  may  seem  like  easy  credulity;  just  as  the  physicist  is 
often  twitted  for  believing  in  the  reality  of  an"ether,"  which 
to  the  onlooker  is  a  mere  hypothesis — a  blank  form  to  be 
filled  up  arbitrarily  at  pleasure,  and  with  no  more  reality 
than  the  figment  of  a  dream. 

This  is  one  of  those  cases,  and  there  are  several,  where 
the  onlooker  does  not  see  most  of  the  game,  where  the  man 
in  the  street  with  all  his  conspicuous  ability  is  not  an  ulti- 
mate authority,  and  where  the  profound  gibes  of  the  clubs, 
or  of  a  monthly  magazine,  are  not  the  conclusion  of  the 
whole  matter. 

For  people  who  are  immersed  in  such  an  atmosphere  it  is 
difficult  to  realise  the  strenuously-acquired  full-bodied  certi- 
tude, or  the  clear-visioned  perception  and  what  one  can 
hardly  help  calling,  in  some  sense,  knowledge,  whether  it  be 
concerning  the  "ether"  or  concerning  the  problem  of  what 
is  known  as  human  "immortality,"  which  may  be  possessed 
by  a  specially  trained  man  of  science.  That  is  the  position 
in  which  the  author  of  these  two  volumes  seems  to  me  defi- 
nitely to  have  acquired  the  right  to  range  himself;  and  in 
this  estimate  of  his  position  I  believe  that  scientific  posterity 
will  acclaim  agreement.  It  is  by  the  name  of  Man  of  Science 
that  I  wish  to  hail  our  late  chief  and  leader,  Frederic 
Myers. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

ON  THE  A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT  AGAINST 
PHYSICAL  PHENOMENA l 

THERE  seems  to  be  a  tendency  in  some  quarters  to 
emphasise  the  improbability  of  all  abnormal  phys- 
ical phenomena — an  improbability  which  certainly 
looms  large  before  every  physicist — and  to  oppose'the  ex- 
treme unlikelihood  of  the  occurrence  of  such  things  against 
every  testimony  and  all  evidence  of  a  positive  kind  in  their 
favour. 

Up  to  a  point  this  attitude  is  legitimate  and  necessary, 
but  there  comes  a  time  when  wisdom  lies  rather  in  consid- 
ering whether  our  ordinary  experience  of  nature,  and  our 
customary  human  powers,  are  a  sufficiently  comprehensive 
guide,  and  whether  we  can  imagine  any  enlarged  powers, 
of  not  too  outrageous  a  nature,  such  as  could  be  supposed 
capable  of  achieving  some  of  the  results. 

The  first  hypothesis,  which  every  one  who  is  driven  in 
this  direction  naturally  makes,  is  to  suppose  that  the  facul- 
ties belonging  to  an  individual  are  not  all  known,  and  that 
it  is  conceivable  that  force  may  be  exerted  and  sensations 
experienced  beyond  the  known  periphery  of  the  bodily  or- 
ganism. The  truth  of  such  extension  of  faculty  must  be 
examined,  for,  so  far  as  I  know,  there  is  nothing  to  nega- 
tive it,  but  it  has  certainly  not  been  definitely  proved.  More- 
over, among  the  asserted  occurrences  of  a  supernormal  na- 
ture there  are  some  which  cannot  reasonably  be  explained  by 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
Part  LXIV,  Vol.  xxv. 

368 


A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT  369 

any  such  hypothesis,  however  it  be  stretched — not  at  least 
if  the  supposed  extended  faculty  is  to  be  of  the  same  gen- 
eral nature  as  those  with  which  we  are  familiar  within  the 
limits  of  the  body  itself. 

The  movements  and  other  phenomena  that  have  to  be 
explained  frequently  exhibit  intelligence — an  intelligence 
sometimes  beyond,  or,  at  any  rate,  differing  from,  that  of 
any  person  present — even  though  it  is  not  of  a  high,  and 
may  occasionally  be  of  mischievous,  kind. 

There  is  no  clear  necessity,  and  as  far  as  I  know  there 
is  no  extensive  claim,  for  attributing  merely  physical  phe- 
nomena to  the  direct  agency  of  departed  human  beings. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  their  powers  of  acting 
on  matter  have  been  enlarged  or  revolutionized:  rather  it 
would  appear  probable  that  such  mechanical  powers  as  were 
possessed  in  the  body  have  now  ceased.  The  idea  that  phys- 
ical phenomena  are  directly  due  to  deceased  persons  has  led, 
and  will  probably  always  lead,  to  cheap  and  easy  retort  and 
ridicule. 

That,  however,  is  no  argument.  In  certain  cases  there 
does  appear  to  be  a  connexion,  though  it  may  be  indirect. 
Some  of  the  simpler  physical  phenomena,  such  as  raps,  seem 
designed  to  call  attention  and  add  emphasis  to  what  is  be- 
ing otherwise  communicated;  though  the  source  of  the 
messages  is  still  an  open  question.  If  it  should  turn  out 
that  great  psychic  activity  or  emotion  on  the  other  side  oc- 
casionally results  in  physical  as  well  as  in  mental  phe- 
nomena, as  a  kind  of  overflow  of  energy — perhaps  uncon- 
scious and  unintended,  like  stammering — I  should  not  be 
altogether  surprised.  And  if  once  the  possibility  of  any 
such  physical  action,  however  trivial,  is  admitted,  a  door 
is  opened  which  will  not  readily  be  closed. 

But  that  is  not  the  lesson  which  I  wish  now  to  draw 


370  A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT 

from  the  hypothetical  existence  and  activity  of  departed  hu- 
man beings.  The  moral  that  I  would  draw  is  more  like 
this: 

If  intelligences  akin  to  humanity  are  in  any  way  at  work, 
in  an  order  of  being  beyond  our  present  senses  and  outside 
our  present  scope,  is  it  likely  that  they  are  the  only  beings 
that  thus  exist? 

It  is  certainly  far  from  the  case  here  and  now. 

A  reader  of  terrestrial  history,  living  on  another  planet, 
might  readily  conceive  the  idea  that  the  earth  was  inhab- 
ited solely  by  human  beings,  though  he  would  observe  that 
reference  was  occasionally  made  to  creatures  such  as  horses 
and  cattle  as  useful  for  labour  or  for  food;  but  how  little 
could  he  appreciate  of  the  facts  known  to  a  Zoologist — 
how  far  he  would  be  from  imagining  the  extraordinary 
wealth  of  terrestrial  life,  some  of  it  of  the  most  curious 
and  fantastic  kind,  among  which  we  live.  He  could  im- 
agine less  even  than  the  ordinary  uninstructed  person  knows 
of  the  myriads  of  creation.  Our  experience  here  certainly 
leads  us  to  assume  that,  where  there  is  life  at  all,  there  is 
likely  to  be  an  immense  variety  and  complexity  of  life;  so 
if  the  evidence  ever  constrains  us  to  extend  human  exist- 
ence, or  an  existence  akin  to  human,  into  what  is  popularly 
spoken  of  as  "another  world,"  then  we  ought  to  make  the 
generalisation,  based  on  our  experience  here,  that  not  hu- 
manity alone  but  many  other  orders  of  being,  some  higher, 
some  lower,  may  exist  and  interact  in  those  unknown  sur- 
roundings. 

Is  such  a  hypothesis  legitimate?  It  is  premature  as  yet 
to  make  it,  but  I  foresee  a  time  when  we  shall  be  driven  to 
something  like  it;  and,  if  there  is  any  truth  in  it,  a  multitude 
of  phenomena  which  now  appear  weird  and  strange,  or 
frankly  impossible,  will  receive  what  then  may  seem  their 


A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT  371 

simple  and  natural  explanation.  The  lawless  and  the  ca- 
pricious can  only  be  so  to  our  present  understanding,  and 
only  appear  so  because  we  have  abstracted  and  mentally 
partitioned  off  a  certain  small  region  of  the  Universe  and 
decided  to  treat  it  for  scientific  purposes  as  if  it  were  the 
whole. 

That  is  exactly  what  we  do  in  a  laboratory:  we  exclude 
disturbing  influences  as  much  as  possible;  and  those  which 
we  cannot  exclude  we  first  reduce  to  a  minimum,  and  then 
either  take  into  account  by  calculation  or  else  ignore  as  be- 
ing demonstrably  insignificant  in  amount.  That  is  our  cus- 
tomary process;  and,  of  course,  we  sometimes  make  mis- 
takes. The  history  of  science  is  full  of  instances  where  the 
ignored  is  found  ultimately  to  be  of  importance.  Where- 
upon unexplained  discrepancies,  or  what  had  been  called 
discordances  between  theory  and  fact,  become  in  the  light 
of  fuller  knowledge  resolved  and  explained. 

A  trace  of  radioactivity,  before  radioactivity  was  allowed 
for;  the  impact  of  stray  electric  waves,  before  such  things 
were  expected;  the  pressure  of  light  in  interplanetary  space 
or  a  vacuum  bulb,  before  the  time  of  Clerk  Maxwell  or 
Crookes;  the  complication  of  a  spider's  web  in  a  balance 
case  which  had  been  supposed  closed  to  alien  influence; — 
all  these,  no  less  than  the  proverbial  bull  in  a  china  shop, 
have  before  now  produced  strange  happenings  which  seemed 
inexplicable  until  the  perturbing  cause  itself  became  known. 

And  it  would  not  be  unnatural,  though  it  could  hardly 
be  said  to  be  wise,  for  the  head  of  the  laboratory,  to  whom 
such  events  were  reported,  to  profess  disbelief  in  them;  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  more  likely  for  observers  to  be  care- 
less, or  for  testimony  to  err,  than  for  such  outrageous  eccen- 
tricities in  the  order  of  nature  to  be  real. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  if  ever  for  a  moment  we  allow 


372  A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT 

ourselves  to  contemplate  the  possible  existence  and  activity 
of  another  order  of  being,  we  are  making  a  wild  speculation 
and  opening  the  door  to  a  region  so  unknown  as  to  be  use- 
less and  confusing.  Yes,  and  that  is  one  good  reason  why 
we  do  not  open  the  door;  or,  at  least,  are  not  willing  to 
open  it  very  wide. 

Progress  in  science  is  made  by  proceeding  slowly  and 
gradually  from  the  known  to  the  unknown — not  by  postu- 
lating any  mysterious  agency  that  can  be  imagined  and  let- 
ting it  work  its  hypothetical  will.  That  was  done  in  old 
times  truly,  when,  for  instance,  an  angel  was  supposed  to 
control  the  movement  of  each  planet  and  guide  it  on  its 
course;  it  is  also  done  sometimes  by  illiterate  persons  who 
attribute  particular  actions  to  the  Deity — not  indirectly  and 
ultimately,  in  the  way  that  all  religious  people  assume,  but 
directly  and  immediately  as  if  He  were  a  clumsy  artificer 
poking  a  finger  into  the  works.  But  those  were  not  the 
ages  of  science,  nor  is  satisfaction  with  vague  unknown  pos- 
sibilities the  atmosphere  of  science.  In  science  all  the  en- 
trances to  unknown  causes  must  be  jealously  guarded,  and 
new  agencies  must  be  only  let  in  one  at  a  time  as  they  are 
really  needed. 

In  recent  times  several  new  agencies  have  been  admitted 
— new  elements,  new  vibrations,  new  forces, — all  outside 
our  unaided  senses,  and,  therefore,  all  unknown  fifty  years 
ago.  But  in  what  sense  were  they  new?  Manifestly  only 
in  a  subjective  sense.  Throughout  the  world's  history  they 
have  existed  and  done  their  work.  Argon  and  helium  and 
radium,  electrons  and  X-rays  and  electric  waves,  have  really 
been  active  all  the  time ;  and  phagocytes  have  been  attacking 
the  microbes  of  disease,  and  bacilli  have  been  contributing 
to  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  bacteria  have  been  slaying 
their  thousands,  all  through  human  history;  just  as  cer- 


A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT  373 

tainly  as  that  the  heart  was  pumping  and  the  blood  circulat- 
ing in  the  heroes  of  antiquity,  however  little  the  owners  of 
the  blood-vessels  were  aware  of  the  fact. 

But  all  these  things,  it  will  be  said,  are  in  the  line  of  hu- 
man knowledge,  they  fit  in  with  what  was  previously  known, 
they  were  surmised  and  then  verified  by  human  intelligence, 
— their  recognition  is  not  like  opening  the  door  to  the  un- 
licensed activity  of  a  group  of  creatures  of  whose  nature 
and  properties  we  know  absolutely  nothing. 

Well,  let  us  look  at  that  contention  for  a  little  while. 
Socrates  spoke  of  his  Dsemon,  Joan  of  Arc  of  her  Voices, 
Saints  have  told  of  their  direct  inspiration,  Poets  have  as- 
sured us  that  their  best  work  comes  from  outside  them- 
selves ; — so  we  must  admit,  without  trenching  on  the  ground 
of  religion,  that  activities  of  a  kind  higher  than  human 
have  been  testified  to  on  a  basis  of  direct  experience. 

But  this  is  very  different  from  the  physical  phenomena 
which  at  present  are  under  discussion.  That  contention  is 
most  true,  and  the  testimony  for  these  things  is  of  a  less  high 
and  notable  order;  but  it  exists  nevertheless,  and  I  desire 
to  urge  that  the  kind  of  things  asserted  are  not  beyond  the 
capacity  of  a  group  of  imaginary  beings  which  science  for  its 
own  sake  has  imagined  the  possibility  of,  and  whose  powers 
it  has  delimited  and  defined. 

The  power  of  human  beings  as  we  know  them,  so  far  as 
it  relates  to  the  world  of  matter,  is  limited  to  moving  masses 
of  matter  of  visible  and  tangible  size.  No  other  thing  can 
man  do  in  the  material  region.  He  acts  on  it  by  his  muscles, 
and  by  his  muscles  alone.  All  else  is  done  by  the  properties 
of  matter  itself.  Man  can  put  a  seed  into  the  ground  and 
cover  it  with  soil  and  water, — the  resulting  plant  is  not  his 
achievement.  Man  can  build  a  machine  of  glass  and  brass, 
and  by  turning  a  handle  can  evoke  an  electric  spark, — but 


374  A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT 

the  spark  is  not  man's  production.  Whatever  can  result 
from  the  movement  and  arrangement  of  matter  is  indirectly 
the  result  of  man's  activity,  and  beyond  that  he  can  achieve 
nothing. 

But  if  he  had  the  power  of  dealing  with  individual  mole- 
cules, instead  of  with  masses  of  matter, — if  he  could  see 
and  trace  and  handle  and  control  the  motions  of  the  atoms 
themselves, — or  if  a  being  existed  with  senses  and  powers 
analogous  to  our  own,  and  like  ours  perfectly  finite  and  lim- 
ited,— only  different  in  the  sense  of  being  so  acute  and  rapid 
that  things  moving  with  the  speed  of  bullets  and  things  in- 
visible in  the  highest-power  microscope  became  tangible  and 
tractable, — then  other  things  could  be  done  which  to  us 
with  our  present  senses  and  muscles  would  seem  impossible, 
and  which  certainly  would  in  the  strict  sense  be  super-,  or 
it  might  be  infra-,  human.  It  is  well  known  that  Clerk 
Maxwell  imagined  such  an  order  of  beings  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  how  the  second  law  of  thermodynamics  might 
be  evaded;  and  Lord  Kelvin — to  whom  few  things  could  be 
more  distasteful  than  being  quoted  in  support  of  my  pres- 
ent contention,  and  to  his  shade  I  apologise — went  a  step 
further  and  enunciated  a  whole  category  of  things  which 
"Maxwell's  demons"  could  achieve,  subject  to  all  the  per- 
fectly defined  physical  laws  and  processes  with  which  we  are 
already  acquainted. 

Myers  enters  into  some  detail  concerning  the  relation 
of  this  conception  to  many  asserted  physical  phenomena. 
Nothing  more  is  necessary  than  a  power  of  dealing  with 
molecules  as  we  deal  with  masses  of  matter;  no  Law  of  Mo- 
tion— as  we  call  it — need  be  upset,  the  conservation  of 
energy  would  hold  undisputed  sway,  gravitation  and  all  the 
other  forces  would  be  as  potent  as  ever;  and  yet  what  would 


A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT  375 

seem  miraculous  to  uninitiated  human  beings  would  be  ca- 
pable of  achievement. 

The  idea  is  worked  out,  with  just  the  right  attitude  of 
humour  and  semi-sarcasm  appropriate  to  the  novelty  of  the 
idea  and  to  the  apparent  fancifulness  of  its  basis,  in  F.  W. 
H.  Myers'  "Human  Personality,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  530-534. 

I  remember  when  he  was  writing  that  part  of  his  book, 
and  the  talks  we  had  on  it.  I  remember  his  asking  me 
what  sort  of  reality  could  by  any  conceivability  be  attributed 
to  Maxwell's  demons,  and  what  sort  of  acts  they  could  ac- 
complish if  they  in  any  kind  of  sense  existed.  I  referred 
him  to  Lord  Kelvin's  brilliant  lecture  on  the  subject,  of 
which  an  abstract  appears  in  Proc.  Roy.  Inst.  Vol.  IX., 
Feb.,  1879, — under  the  title  "The  Sorting  Demon  of  Max- 
well,"— and  likewise  in  his  "Popular  Addresses,"  Vol.  I.; 
and  I  was  interested  in  the  singular  felicity  of  the  use  which 
Myers  made  of  the  idea. 

Do  I,  then,  seriously  contend  that  we  must  postulate  such 
creatures  in  order  to  account  for  asserted  physical  and 
chemical  phenomena  of  a  novel  kind?  I  do  not.  But  I  do 
maintain  that  the  existence  of  such  power  has  been  imag- 
ined by  physicists  themselves,  for  the  purposes  of  ordinary 
physics, — especially  perhaps,  for  the  region  where  physics 
interlocks  with  biology, — not  at  all  with  the  object  of  aid- 
ing our  special  investigations;  with  entire  ignorance  per- 
haps— indeed  with  active  dislike  in  one  case — of  the  sub- 
jects which  are  dealt  with  by  our  Society. 

Hence  I  hold  that  if  testimony  as  to  facts  of  this  order 
ever  becomes  strong  enough  to  demand  ideas  of  this  kind 
for  their  elucidation,  there  will  be  nothing  outrageous  or 
hyperfanciful  in  the  conception,  nor  anything  illegitimate 
in  such  a  hypothesis,  when  it  is  forced  upon  us.  We  shall 
not  make  it  unless  driven  to  it  by  facts,  and  facts  have  not 


376  A  PRIORI  ARGUMENT 

yet  driven  us  to  it;  but  if  and  when  they  do,  I  for  one  shall 
take  the  line  not  of  denying  the  facts  as  grotesquely  impos- 
sible and  manifestly  absurd — however  much  one  is  some- 
times tempted  to  say  this  now — but  I  shall  hope  to  exam- 
ine them  to  see  whether,  by  some  such  extension  of  human 
or  other  power  as  Maxwell  and  Kelvin  have  conceived,  we 
may  not  be  led  a  step  on  into  our  understanding  of  a  larger 
Nature.  We  may  perhaps  thus  find  that  the  physical  phe- 
nomena and  the  intellectual  phenomena  are  more  closely 
allied  than  we  had  imagined;  that  they  are  allied  there,  in- 
deed, somewhat  as  they  are  allied  here;  and  that  one  class 
is  a  reasonable,  or  at  any  rate  a  real,  supplement  to  the 
other. 

One  set  of  facts  may  be  of  the  heroic  order,  and  another 
set  of  the  trivial,  the  domestic,  the  casual  order, — and  no 
man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet;  but  whether  we  attend  to  the 
commonplace  actions  of  a  great  man  or  not,  such  actions 
are  undoubtedly  performed.  To  suppose  that  great  poetry, 
for  instance,  ever  came  into  the  world  without  any  con- 
comitant of  ordinary  and  what  we  call  "low"  humanity,  is 
to  suppose  a  monstrosity.  And  those  who  are  even  now 
opening  the  door  to  a  demonstration  of  intelligence  from 
beyond  the  veil  may  find — will  find  as  I  believe — that  they 
are  admitting,  along  with  the  intelligence,  a  mass  of  supple- 
mentary concomitant  activity,  which  will  have  to  be  reck- 
oned with,  classified,  and  understood.  And  I  venture  to 
risk  the  prediction  that  the  testimony  to  this  physical  ma- 
terial activity,  low  though  it  may  be,  and  however  much 
it  be  kept  in  its  proper  subordinate  place,  and  however  criti- 
cal the  attitude  which  may  rightly  have  to  be  taken  with 
respect  to  it,  can  with  wisdom  be  neither  ignored  nor 
denied. 


INDEX 


MM 

Abt  Volger 319 

Accessories  in  visions    loz 

Action  at  a  distance 33 

Agent  and  percipient 45 

Aim  of  S.  P.  R 36 

Albemarle  Club    291 

Anticipation  of  future     155-158 

Apparitions    99, 101-107 

Apparitions,  experimental     91, 105 

Archbishop  or  savant 308 

Automatic  intelligence 1 10, 130 

Bacon,  Francis 14, 17 

Bacon,  Roger    14, 15 

Barrett,  Professor 12,  39, 344 

Battersea,  Lord 292 

Beethoven 94 

Birchall,  Mr 46 

"  Blanche  Abercromby"  case 184 

Body  and  mind 172 

Brown  study  in 

"Charley  and  Bird"  case 233 

Clairvoyance   . . .  .125, 155, 169,227,233,238 

Clairvoyance  of  the  dying 147, 151 

Clothes  of  ghosts 99, 102 

Columbus 27 

Communication,  process  of   ..115,174,248, 

509 
Communicators,  statements  of  ....  247, 267 

Comte  and  Socrates 23 

Confusion 284 

Contract,  effects  of    68 

Continuity    342 

Criminals 29 

Cross-correspondence  ....   189,268,311,331 
Crystal  Vision 93, 94 

Death   349 

"Descent  into  Hell" 308 

Detectives 193 

Difficulties  of  communication  ....  253,256, 

280,310,313 

Diotima   333 


PAGE 

"Doctor" 315 

Dorr,  Mr 282,316 

Double  object  for  thought-transference 

4i»  48,  51 

Dream  lucidity 103, 137, 145 

Dying,  clairvoyance  of   146,151 

Dying,  phantasms  of 103 

Ether  of  space   81,82 

Evidence 342 

Experimental  apparitions   91*105 

"Fishing"  314,320 

Forbes,  Mrs 304, 333 

Foreign  languages    151 

Forth  bridge   12 

Future,  anticipation  of  155-158 

Future  service 308 

Garibaldi's  dream 79 

Ghosts 108 

Ghosts,  clothes  of   99, 102 

Goner,  Professor 215, 233 

Grove,  Mrs 321, 326 

Gurney,  Edmund 251 

Guthrie,  Malcolm 40, 49, 75 

Habitability 117 

Hades 308 

Hallucination 100, 102, 104, 108 

Hand,  activity  of 248,251,276,318 

Hauntings 94, 108 

Heliography 83, 93 

Herdman,  Dr 41*  35 

" Hodgson  control"    316 

Hodgson,  Dr 192, 248 

Holland,  Mrs 112, 301, 336, 339 

Hyslop,  Prof 242, 245 

Identity 175, 179, 188,241,244,342 

Image 100 

"Imperator" 315 

Infinity   353 

Influence  of  sitter    323 


377 


378 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Inspiration i">327 

Inspiration,  vicarious 328 

Investigation,  object  of 25 

Isaac  Thompson 223 

Isaac  Thompson  case 269-280 

James,  Professor  William    192,198,293,293 

Johnson,  Miss 331 

"Joy  of  the  Lord" 309 

Kant 120 

Kenosis 282 

Kepler,  Newton,  and  Tycho 27 

Kipling 180 

Kirkham  case 183 

Leaf,  Dr.  Walter 356 

Lessons  to  be  learnt 342 

Letters,  posthumous 122 

Lodge,  Frederick,  case 75 

Lunatics 29 

Lyso  Commit  Von 59, 70 

Man  who  was,  The 180 

Marble,  Mr 321, 323 

Materialisation    178 

Marmontel  case   1 59 

Marsh,  Mr 161, 162 

Mathematical  problem  132 

Miles,  Miss 70, 1 17 

Mind  and  body 172 

Movement   173 

Myers,  Mr.  Ernest 293 

Myers 17 

Myers  on  time  163 

"Myers"  control   288-3 12 

Navies 341 

"Nelly"  control 289, 3 10 

Newton,  Tycho,  and  Kepler 27 

Nineteenth  century 27 

Novum  Organum 17 

"Old  Master"  95 

Opposition  to  S.  P.  R 6 

Pain  and  taste  experiments 75 

Paquet  case 104 

Pelham,  George  251 

Percipient,  agent  and    45 

Phantasms 102, 103, 106 

Phantasms  of  the  living 89, 102 


Phinuit 113,208,261,266,314,325 

Phinuit  case 150 

Photographs,  recognition  of 317 

Photography    100 

Physical  phenomena    101,178 

Piddington,  Mr 268, 330-336 

Piper,  Mrs.     1 12, 190, 197, 260, 264, 276,  339 

Piper,  normal  knowledge  of  Mrs 28 1 

Planchette    130 

Podmore,  Mr 1 20 

Pole,  Miss 130 

"Possession" 176 

Posthumous  letters 122 

Postmarks    156,157 

Prayer 327 

Precautions    32 

Preparations  for  sitting 260 

Press,  American 195 

Prisoners 29 

Proiessional  exhibitions 85 

Programme  of  S.  P.  R 8 

Ramaden,  Miss 70, 1 17 

Rawson,  Miss 303 

Rayleigh,  Lord 293 

Reading,  unseen 135, 222, 226, 238 

Recognition  of  photographs 317 

Records,  exactness  of   31 

"Rector" 113,208,261,266,314,325 

Redmayne,  Professor  (case) 77 

Reflex  action 174 

Relics    95, 230, 285, 287 

Religion,  influence  on 35 

Religious  objectors 6, 307 

Kendall,  Dr 215 

Rich,  Mr 224 

Richet,  Professor   192,293,301 

Robbins,  Miss 257 

Royal  Society    n 

Ruskin,  Mr 76 

Savant,  Archbishop  or 308 

Science,  dislike  of   1 6 

Scylla  and  Charybdis 18 

Semaphore 93 

Service,  future 308 

Severn  case   76 

Sharpe,  Mr 134 

Shears,  Dr 46 

Sidgwick,  Prof.  Henry     4,164,248,311,345 

Sidgwick,  Mrs 3 18, 337 

Sitter,  influence  of  323 


INDEX 


379 


Sitting,  preparations  for 260 

"Snap"  in  head 279,280 

Socrates  and  Coiite 23 

Spiristic  Hypothesis  ..164,179,257,337,351 

"Spirits  in  Prison" 308 

Spiritual  Influence 327 

S.  P.  R.,  aim  of 36 

S.  P.  R.,  opposition  to 6 

S.  P.  R.,  programme  of 8 

Stainton,  Moses    119,135,182,315 

Stranger,  identity  of    242 

Superstitions,  ancient 80, 96 

Swedenborg 181,343 

Swedenborg  case 120 

Sympathetic  connection 8 1 

Taste  and  pain  experiments    79 

Telegraphy  and  telepathy 90, 93, 128 

Telephones 82, 243 

Telergy 171, 176, 177 

Tennyson 292, 300, 346 

Tests 243, 284 

Thompson,  Mr.  Edwin 270 

Thompson,  Isaac  223 

Thompson,  Mrs 295, 306, 332 


Thought-transference,  double  object  for 

32»  4i,  48 

Time,  Myerson 163 

Trance    328 

Trevelyan,  G.  M 79 

Trevelyan,  Sir  George 291 

Trifles 244,345 

Trifles  and  relics 286, 288 

Tunnel   341 

Tycho,  Kepler,  and  Newton  27 

"Uncle  Jerry"  case 228 

Unseen  reading 135, 222, 226, 238 

Veridical 100, 103 

Verrall,  Mrs.    ..    112,128,159,163,305,311, 

339»  34° 

Vicarious  inspiration   328 

Virgil 356 

Visions    100,104,107,153 

Waking  stage    266, 278 

Watson,  Rev.  John 231 

Zancigs 88 


UC  SOUTHERN  RE    i    W 


A     000108093     6 


